Blood Promise
by Icestorm51
Summary: As she sets off to kill him, Rose figures out a way to save Dimitri. But what troubles will it bring and when? And was that big thing always possible but nobody knew?
1. Chapter 1

**Sorry there is no prologue. I didn't feel the need to have one. Sorry, it might be a little bit long. R&R**

Russia… one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. But also the home of Dimitri, the love of my life who is now a strigoi. I was here to destroy him… like I promised him all those months ago.

As it turns out, October is one of the warmest months in Russia. So I was taking a jog up to the mountain creek at night where it was rumored there were labyrinths of caves underground. It sounded like a good place to start looking in his hometown.

I was in my old sweats with my bank card from Adrian in one pocket and a bag of cheerios in the other. Being one of the only American breakfast cereals in Russia, cheerios had become my addiction as well as fruit rollups and Ritz crackers. I was running up the path that led to the creek when it hit me.

The nausea that used to scare me to death was now my good friend in my search for my Dimitri. I whirled around and saw what I never expected to see.

The blonde boy that I was fighting on the day of the attack was standing in front of me. He was smiling slightly with his head tilted to one side. His eyes glowed red not only with the fact that he was a strigoi but also with thirst.

I shook my head slowly. This could not be happening. Someone had to have killed him on the way to the moroi dorm back at campus.

"Hello Rose," he said politely.

I shook my head again but this time I was getting ready. I reached to my side for my stake.

"It's been a while since I saw you. How is the Dragomir girl… Lissa? Yes her. I was thinking-"

He didn't have the chance to finish his sentence before I ran at him with full speed and staked him right in the heart. He twitched slightly before he laid still for the last time.

My heart was beating fast in my chest and my hand was covered in blood. Mine or the strigoi's, it didn't matter. I wiped it off on the body's shirt and dragged him to one of the nearby trees. I didn't have time to get rid of the body. I closed his now blue eyes and leaned him against the trunk. I covered the hole in his chest with his arm so and positioned him so he looked like he was sleeping. He was still smiling, somehow, so it looked like he was dreaming.

Remembering his eyes, deep red, that turned blue after he was killed… there was still a part of him that was alive… maybe there was a way to bring about that piece of aliveness.

There was no way to do that, I reminded myself. Many people had tried and failed. But then again not everybody had Lissa…

Then it hit me like a lightning bolt in the rain. There was a way. Spirit magic. Spirit brought life and strigoi were living dead. There was still a part of them that was alive so that meant they could be revived! Why hadn't I thought about this all those months ago, before I had left Lissa and Adrian? There was no way they could both forgive me…

I let my mind seep into Lissa's.

She was crying as usual. Christian had his arms around her and was whispering comforting words to her. Lissa could tell he was getting tired of this.

"Why did she have to leave me?" She whimpered.

"She loved guardian Belikov more than anyone else. Even you, Liss. I'm sorry. I'm sure she loved you second best."

Pain broke through sadness making a heart wrenching combination. Lissa almost collapsed.

Anger broke through the pain. Furiousness. She would never forgive me, I could see that now. But I had to make her. It was Dimitri's only chance. _She_ was his only chance.

Lissa reached for Christian. She wrapped her hands around his neck and began to kiss him. That's when I drew the line.

I ripped myself from her brain and back to my own. I started sprinting back to my hotel as fast as I could. I knew now that Dimitri would never come back to his home town. It would bring back too many emotions which was exactly what strigoi didn't want. They would stay as emotionless as possible for as long as possible. I should have known that.

As soon as I got back to my hotel, I grabbed all my stuff including my backpack full of clothes, my new cell phone which I never used unless it was to get an update from Adrian, and my extra stake which I had gotten from an old lady who I ran into at the airport while traveling to Russia.

The old woman had recognized me somehow by my figure and said, "You need this more than I do, sweetheart." She hadn't even been a dhampir or moroi. Just a human. It had been one of the weirdest moments of my life. Ok, well that's not true. I had had some pretty weird moments.

I went to the lobby of the hotel and checked out, asking for the nearest airport. After I had received directions, I left the building and sat down on the bench by the bus stop.

Mason, my former friend and guy who had been crazy about me materialized to my left. After he had been killed by a strigoi, he repeatedly came to me giving me directions and advice. I almost never followed them and went my own way but he was good company.

"What, Mason?" I hissed quietly.

"Lissa not forgive you," he commented. Ever since the morning after… the cabin, I had let him talk to me and not tried to push him away like I had done before. He still couldn't talk in full sentences though. It took too much effort that he just didn't have in him.

"I know that already, Sherlock." His face turned down even more than it had already been. I immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry. But now that I know what to do, she has to."

At that, Mason frowned and whispered something illegible. Then he said, "Rose, Adrian will help." And with that, he dematerialized, leaving me alone to wait for the bus.

Lissa's 'cousin' as he called it had a gigantic crush on me ever since I met him. He was more than willing to give me what I wanted whenever I wanted it. But what confused me was what was he going to help me with? He could use spirit magic too but not very well. He obviously wasn't going to revive Dimitri. So was he going to help me get Lissa to do it? As much as she probably hated me now, she would do it for 'Guardian Belikov' if she really wanted to.

I chuckled internally at the name. Never in my life had I called him that and I never would. The only names I ever called him besides Dimitri was Dimka (rarely), his Russian nickname and Comrade, his nickname from when I first met him.

My heart ached fiercely at that moment. I never thought about him for long periods of time if I could help it. It only made the heartache worse.

My bus appeared at the corner of the street and I readied my things. Once the bus pulled up to me, I got in and handed the driver my bus pass who looked like he really shouldn't be driving or for that matter standing he was so old.

I got in a seat near the front and waited for a good thirty minutes before we got to my stop: the airport.

I rushed out of the bus and into the crowded luggage area. I ran past all of the people in a rush, shoving people who got in my way.

When I got to the service area, I had to skid to a stop before I ran into the desk.

"May I help you?" The lady asked with a slightly surprised face with the thickest accent I heard since I got to Russia.

"Uh, yeah, you can. I need one ticket on the next plane to Montana in America."

She questioned me for a long time about the location on my destination and all that crap before we got to the juicy stuff.

"Okay, now finally, what is your name, miss?" The lady asked politely.

"Rosemarie Hathaway."

"Good, good. Now would you like an in-flight meal?" Okay maybe not entirely juicy.

"Uh, sure. You got steak?"

When my ticket was paid for and given to me, I rushed to my gate before the lady behind the desk could even say 'Have a nice day.'

They were calling up the last of the rows by the time I got there. I was lucky enough to slide past a few people and hand my ticket to a frustrated looking scanner person. He took my ticket and scanned it then gave it back to me and I was on the plane in a second. I didn't know why I was in such a rush. The plane didn't leave until it did and nothing I could do was going to make it go any faster. Or could I?

Instead of going to my seat like I was supposed to, I handed my ticket and bag to a flight attendant who looked at me with dislike before I slid in the pilots cabin.

The pilot and co-pilot looked at me with disinterest. "Can I help you ma'am?" They asked, obviously bored. I wondered then why almost every Russian person I met spoke English. But that was not important right now.

"Do you think you could speed this process up a little? I'm in a big hurry," I added with a slight smile.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't help you there. Your just going to have to wait patiently," the co-pilot told me.

I shook my head. "How much will it take?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much _money?_"

"No amount can make this plane go any faster."

I started spitting out amounts of money I knew I still had in my account. They stared at me, their eyes huge.

"That last one," the pilot told me.

"Great. Ten minutes then?"

They both nodded simultaneously as I handed them a check and left the cabin. I heard the pilot talking into a talkie while the other started up the plane. I smiled to myself. All there was left to do now was relax. This was going to be a great plane ride now that I knew the solution to strigoi's and that I could save Dimitri. The only problem was getting Lissa to help me. Yep, this was going to be great.

That was, until I found out my seat was right next to the bathroom.

**How was it? Horrible? Wonderful? Needs work? Please read and review people!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The long awaited... Chapter 2 (mwahahaha) I have published this along with chapters 3, 4, and 5 so there is no need to worry about reading any more... I wont say anything for the next couple chapters so dont worry if I don't give the usual... "R&R" thing. I'm still here. HOPE YOU LOVE IT!!!! -Zozerz**

* * *

My plane ride was long and depressing. A variety of people kept passing me to use the toilet but that wasn't the worst part. I was sitting next to one of those fat, greasy guys that you always see on TV. there was also this annoying little kid in front of me who kept complaining he smelled mustard when his father kept saying it was the bathroom.

Frustration formed deep within me. I drifted into sleep sometimes but it wasn't long enough for the entire ride. When my in-flight meal got there, I was finally happy… until the greasy guy next to me figured out he didn't order one and kept sneaking small pieces of mine. When I asked to move to the front, the flight attendant just glared at me and walked away. How pleasant.

When we finally arrived, my day got ten times better. I figured out that we landed in Court where Lissa was supposed to go to collage. She wouldn't be there now but it was a great opportunity to get someone to take me back to the Academy.

When I got off the plane, I didn't bother going through airport security again. I sneaked around the airport with my bag in hand and finally got out. Then I dialed a number on my phone that I had never dialed before.

"Little dhampir?"

"Adrian. I need you to pick me up. I'm at Court."

"You decided to come back? That's great! I'll meet you at the Café de Mozart at five." He hung up before I could say another word.

I sighed and asked a random person where the Café de Mozart was. She directed me towards a large building and told me it was behind it. She scowled when I didn't say thank you. I'm not a nice person. What can I say?

When I got there, it was only four fifteen. I didn't know what to do. Just wait there and do nothing? I don't think so.

That's when a waitress approached me. She looked very bored and enthusiastic at the same time. It was a very confusing combination. "How many?" She asked. I didn't understand what she was saying at first. How many what? But then I realized I was in America with American ways.

"Just one, thank you." She led me to a little table in the back of the restaurant. She came along again soon and asked me what I wanted.

"Just some tomato soup, please." I didn't know why I was acting so polite. Must be the nerves. When my soup got to me, it was already four thirty. I ate it quickly and ordered two of their best homemade chocolate chip cookies. I ate one before getting the check and saved the other one for Adrian. When it was five, I walked outside and stood by the doorway for a few minutes before Adrian showed up. He grabbed me and hugged me so tight and for some reason, I hugged back. He was obviously happy to see me.

"Little dhampir," he said. "It's so good to see you again!"

"I wish I could say the same to you, Adrian." That made him laugh.

"So… why are you back?"

I hesitated. "In the car, Adrian. Not now." He nodded and took my hand. I didn't pull it away because I knew he would be offended if I did. Again, why did I care if he was offended? I never cared.

When we got to his car parked right outside of the hotel I stayed at so many months ago. We both got in and he started driving. I offered him his cookie. He took it and bit into it ravenously.

"Wow, when was the last time you ate?"

"Not since this morning. Lissa keeps showering me in phone calls and she leaves messages when I don't answer. She keeps wanting me to practice spirit magic with her."

"Hm… Interesting. That's an interesting way to keep yourself busy."

There was a long silence.

"Now, tell me why you came back."

I sighed. I couldn't put this off any longer. "I came back because… I found a way to turn strigoi back to whatever they were before."

Adrian gasped. "How? When? Why?"

"I'm not going to answer one word questions."

"Rose… How?"

"With spirit magic." It sounded kind of obvious when I said it out loud. Adrian nodded as if he suddenly was having like an epiphany or something. Not that I knew what that was.

"I see now," he said with no surprise in his voice anymore. "You're right."

We were weaving through the many paths used to confuse tourists who wandered into the woods. We finally approaching the gates.

"Listen. Their not going to let you in without identification so your going to have to hide in the back seat."

I nodded, a little frustrated, but I did it anyway. Adrian flashed the Guardian at the gate his card and they let him pass. He parked in the lot to the back of the school where nobody could see it so it didn't ruin the atmosphere.

We both got out and said nothing. It was day time so mostly everyone was asleep but we saw a few students out of bed.

We were about to enter the school when I saw something that _really_ surprised me. Two of the Guardians that I liked most were walking together and holding hands. Alberta and Stan. Wow.

"Okay, then," I said loud enough for them to hear. "This is awkward."

They both turned to me and I saw Alberta's deep anger. "Rose? What are you doing out of bed?!" But then realization crossed her face. She broke her grip with Stan and walked over to me. Before I could do anything, she gave me a gigantic hug which was the thing I was least expecting from her.

Stan just kind of stood there and waved a little bit. I winked at him. "Don't worry," I told them. "I won't tell anyone."

We then walked past them and into the school with Stan still staring at the spot where I had been standing. Dude, just get over it. The badass was back.

Adrian took me through the guest house and to his room where he was currently staying since he was renovating his old room to have a refrigerator.

"I also changed rooms," he told me, "because now Lissa doesn't know where I live. She'll find out eventually but it's nice to have some peace and quiet for now."

It made me sad Adrian and everyone was avoiding Lissa. Was it all my fault?

"No," Adrian said as if he could read my thoughts. "It's not your fault, little dhampir. She should have been more prepared to have you leave if you needed to. She knew that it was possible but she still didn't want to think that it was." Adrian seemed so much more mature than when I left many months ago. Was he still the alcoholic and cigarette smoking person that I knew and almost loved?

"Little dhampir," he began again. "Remember what you said the day before you left? That you would give me a chance after you had finished what you were going to do? You have figured out something that can change the entire world. You have basically finished what you went out to do. Please keep your promise."

"I never said the word promise," I whispered, quoting myself from many months ago. I was hoping that we wouldn't have to hit this part of the deal. I knew that there was a way to bring Dimitri back which meant that… that we could still be in love. And I _was_ in love with him. I would always be. So why did I want to give Adrian what he wanted? "I-I'm not sure, Adrian. I said I would but now that there is a chance of getting D-him back, I just don't know anymore."

"Than just give me one night, Rose. One night to prove that I love you. If you still love him more than me after that, I won't flirt with you anymore or give you flowers or anything. I will just be your friend. Okay?"

I argued with myself for a moment. I definitely did _not_ want to have sex with him but maybe one date wouldn't hurt…

"Fine," I whispered. "One night. Tonight."

Adrian smiled the warmest smile I had ever seen from him. "Get dressed in my bathroom. Dinner's in twenty."

I went to the bathroom at the end of the hall with my stuff and picked out the same black dress that I had worn when Dimitri and I had first… shown interest. After I had put on makeup, I walked out of the bathroom. Adrian peeked out of his room to see what I was wearing and then retreated back to change out of his khaki shorts that he had changed into. I smiled to myself and sat on the couch in his living room. I switched on the TV and put on a random show before Adrian came out wearing a tie and a sports jacket.

"Fancy," I said, sarcastically checking him out.

"You're one to talk. Are you ready to leave?"

I nodded and he took my arm and led me out of the school and then to his car where I hid in the back again and we drove all the back to the Royal Court.

When we got there, he led me to a restaurant called Fuji Mountain.

Asian food. I almost screamed in delight. I hadn't had a sushi roll in… three years? Probably more.

We sat down at a table which I was surprised to see had its own personal grill/stove/oven. As soon as we sat down, the waiter asked us what we wanted to drink. Adrian turned to me.

"Uh… One coke."

"We do not have coke. We have Japanese soda though. You want to try it?"

I shrugged.

"Two please," Adrian said. He was such a loser, it was kind of funny.

I looked at the menu for a minute before I heard a commotion outside. I stood up to see what was wrong but Adrian pushed me back down into my seat.

"It's probably nothing," he assured me. Of course, he was wrong.

At that moment, a pack of strigoi burst through the doors. Were the Courts wards broken? How? Was it humans? I didn't have a chance to answer all these questions before I burst into action, grabbing for my stake. Of course, when I changed, I took it off. I'd have to make do with something else.

I grabbed a huge knife from under the oven in front of us and sprang from my seat. On my way, I grabbed the oil for the oven and sprayed it all over the five strigoi. They laughed without humor and sprang at me.

As one lunged for my neck, I caught him by surprise and used the knife to behead him. It wasn't my style. Too medieval, but it would have to do for now. I went for another one and tried the same thing but he wouldn't be fooled. He grabbed my arm and twisted it backwards, making for an awkward position to stab him from but I did it. When he let go, I automatically went for a box of matches laying by our table. I lit one successfully on the first try and threw it at one of the strigoi in front, making him catch fire. I did the same with another one but for the last one, I just went straight at him with the knife while he was looking at his friends. I killed him quickly and threw the knife at the last remaining strigoi, piercing his heart with my perfect aim.

As soon as I had finished with all of them, I sat back down next to Adrian who was shaking fiercely and beckoned to out waiter. He came slowly, astonished, eyes wide.

I smiled and said, "We're ready to order now."

The waiter fell onto the floor, fainted and I chuckled slightly.

But with that, there had to be more to come. Strigoi didn't break into the _Royal Court_ without backup.

I told Adrian to stay where he was or at least go back to the car and drive home. He nodded slowly and curled up into a ball and laid where he was.

There was no hesitation in my stride as I ran outside and onto the main street. There were lots of bodies lying around, all kinds. Dhampir, moroi and strigoi but I had no time to mourn. What I saw in front of me was what I had been trying to kill but in this moment, I had to save him.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Dimitri was standing in the center of the square… but he wasn't alone. A moroi was standing next to him. She looked like a porcelain doll in more ways than one. Her face was pale and her hair was blonde with that curl you only see on TV or commercials. She was the girl who had terrorized Lissa and I when we got back to the academy. She was the girl who helped me escape from the strigoi with Lissa and Eddie. It was Mia.**_

_**And she was standing next to him with no restraints or anything. And she wasn't restraining him…**_

"_**Rose!" She called. I didn't answer. My eyes were still stuck on Dimitri. It had been so long since I'd seen his face, cuddled in his arms, kissed his lips… And here he was, standing right in front of me, as the creature I hated most.**_

_**He looked pretty uptight. All of his muscles were tensed and his glowing red eyes kept rolling back to Mia with a thirst infiltrating them. But he stood perfectly still, his emotions still locked up like they always were.**_

_**Before I knew it, I was on the ground, unconscious.**_

_**When I woke up, I was extremely disoriented. I was lying on the ground with people hovering over me. One of them was Mia. She was staring at my arm, concentrating hard on something. When I looked at it, I saw that water was covering it and keeping the blood inside. I retched a little bit before she noticed I was awake. She frowned at me and told me to close my eyes.**_

"_**Where's Dimitri?" I asked cautiously.**_

"_**He's inside the restaurant trying to get away from everything," Mia explained.**_

"_**But Adrian is inside!"**_

"_**He's okay. We got him into an ambulance as quick as we could. I think he's in shock. He won't talk or anything."**_

_**My eyes rolled into the back of my head a little. "I need to see Dimitri," I whimpered.**_

"_**No. He's already dealing with the stress of so many that aren't his kind. He needs to be away from everyone."**_

"_**I need to see him NOW!"**_

_**I pushed Mia off of me who stumbled back, a little stunned. I jumped to my feet and ran back into the restaurant. There were six bodies lying on the floor. One was a waitress that had worked there and the others were the strigoi that I killed. I was on fire!**_

_**Dimitri sat with his hands in his head, looking straight at the table me and Adrian had sat at. He looked like he would be crying if he could be. I could see a little part of my dress was stuck on the chair I was sitting in. He remembered it. Of course he did.**_

_**I looked down at myself. I was in pieces. Literally. My dress was torn and singed in more than a couple places. My hair was sticking out of my head in clumps. Skin was missing from my body in many places. I didn't remember being hurt but adrenaline does that to you when you're really pumped up.**_

_**I turned back to Dimitri. He was looking at me now. His red eyes still showed a bit of brown around the edges. His lip quivered slightly as I walked up to him. I stood back a few feet, making sure that he wouldn't hurt me. He was so pained, not in the physical way but the mental one. What was he thinking now? Deciding whether to kill me or not? I threw that out of my mind. Never.**_

"_**Roza… You… How…" He stopped talking. It was just coming out like mush anyway.**_

"_**You're not going to die, Dimitri."**_

_**His eyes fixed themselves upon my face. "Why?"**_

"_**Because I found a way."**_

"_**What?"**_

_**I sighed. I couldn't stand it anymore. He was only a few feet away from me but I wasn't making any move to approach him. It was killing me.**_

_**Suddenly, before I knew what happened, he was in my arms. I hadn't moved a centimeter. He did. That surprised me. His lips were on my neck and I was expecting him to bite but he wasn't biting me. He was kissing me. And I was reaching for him too.**_

_**His lips found mine and we were suddenly laughing. Laughing because nothing like this had ever happened in history before. In anyone's history.**_

_**His lips were like water in my throat after a long trip through the desert. It was almost as if I was dying and he brought me back to life. But it wasn't like before. He was trying to restrain himself. It made my coming back to life all more painful.**_

_**My stomach was resisting the urge to throw up all over him. The nausea was controlling my body but my arms wouldn't let him go.**_

_**He quickly pulled away. I understood why but I wanted him so badly. I turned around to see Mia standing it the doorway, stunned.**_

"_**Wh-when did you guys… happen? And how is he…?" There were many questions in her eyes.**_

"_**It's a long story that I don't have time to tell. I need to get back to the academy and I need to find Lissa. No. You guys need to find Lissa. She won't want me there. Nobody mention me. I have to go to the hospital to see Adrian…"**_

_**I was suddenly extremely fatigued. "Adrian has to help her. Just wait a couple hours. Nobody do anything without Adrian, he knows what to do. Just wait…"**_

_**I was being very nervous for some reason. Maybe it was because I didn't want Dimitri to know I had been on a date with him. I ran from the restaurant at full speed towards the hospital. I knocked a few frantic people over in the process but I didn't care.**_

_**When I got there, I nearly knocked over Adrian too as he was leaving. I hugged him tight but I didn't hold it for too long. I looked up at him with regret in my eyes.**_

"_**He was there, wasn't he?" He guessed.**_

"_**He's in the restaurant. They're leaving now to go to Lissa. I need you there too to explain. And help. You might not be the best healer but you can lend Lissa your power. I don't know how I know but I know that Lissa won't want me there. She hasn't seen me in so long… I don't know how she'll react. You have to get there quickly and heal him. I know you can. But for now, I'm going to have to talk to Mason and that means leaving warded area. Please go."**_

_**I motioned towards the general direction of the restaurant with my eyes closed. I was suddenly being kissed, with so much passion and emotion that it almost rivaled Dimitri's kisses. Almost. After he had finished, Adrian ran away, knowing that I would never be able to love him ever again after tonight.**_

_**I sat down right where I was standing on the pavement and started to cry. Somebody came out and started talking to and about me but I didn't answer.**_

"_**Maybe we should help her," a voice suggested.**_

"_**There's nothing I can do about a lovesick girl."**_

_**Both the men retreated into the building. They were wrong. I wasn't lovesick. I was sorry for all the pain I had caused over the years. To Adrian, Christian, Lissa, Mason, Dimitri… The list never ended. Even for the people I hated… Asiah, Elena, Mia at one time… So much pain. Adrian was wrong. It was my fault. Everything was. It was my fault Adrian and Christian had fought months and months ago. It was my fault Lissa was tortured by Jesse's group. It was my fault that Adrian was going to be lonely for the rest of his life. My fault.**_

_**I ran away from anyone within a one mile radius. I needed to be alone. Not even Mason could comfort me right now. The only thing that could is if Adrian found someone, Lissa loved me and Dimitri was mine again. That was the only way I could be happy.**_

_**I wasn't going to talk to Mason. I never wanted to see his face again because it would just reflect how much I had hurt everyone.**_

_**I sat in an alley way filled with grime and filth. There was a few cents lying on the ground and even a persons sock. It reminded me of the time Lissa and I had been hiding from the psyhounds sent by Victor Dashkov. We had to stay in a place like this so we could avoid the from eating us alive. Or me anyway.**_

_**I cried for a little longer until my tears were dried up and my shirt was stained with saltwater. I stood up slowly. I couldn't go back to the academy. They would still be working on Dimitri. I couldn't come back for at least a day. So where was I going to stay? On the streets? No way. I had to rent a room.**_

_**Dimitri's POV**_

_**Lissa linked hands with Adrian, her direct source of energy, who linked with Mia who linked with Christian. All their power together was almost as good as three spirit users.**_

_**I sat in a chair in the corner of the room. The burning in my throat increased as they approached me. It took all the effort I had to not kill them all right now. I was pretty sure I could if Eddie wasn't behind them. He would kill me if I tried. But it wasn't just effort that held me down. I tried to remember my last kiss with Roza as they came closer. Her love kept me good. Without her, I would be a devil.**_

_**Lissa put her open hand on the direct source of evil; my heart. I stiffened at her touch but tried to relax. She closed her eyes as well as she concentrated. And then…**_

_**I felt my skin burn for a few seconds before darkening a couple shades. I felt my eyes change from glowing red to brown instantaneously. My hair grew at least a half an inch from the time it was supposed to have grown. But most noticeably, the burn lifted from my throat and the weights fell from my heart.**_

_**I sat up. The only thing that didn't change was… my strength. I could feel that I wasn't as**_** fast but I was still fast. But the power that coursed through my veins was still the same as the first day I had woken up in the caves.**

**I didn't care about any of that right now though. "Adrian," I said. "Where's Rose?"**

"**What do you mean 'Where's Rose?'" Lissa's voice came from beside him. Oops.**

**But Adrian took over. "She came back, Lissa. This wasn't actually my idea. It was hers. She came back to the school and we went to Royal Court on a da- to see the queen."**

"**You two went on a **_**date? **_**No. Why would she do that to me?"**

"**It wasn't her fault, Dimitri. When you… went away, she asked for my help and in exchange, when she came back, she would give us a chance. I sort of knew it wouldn't work out, but I had to try."**

**I ran up to him, lifting him up by the collar. "Why do you think she went on that date, spirit boy? Because she wanted to? No. She did it because she knew it was the last thing that would make you happy. If you knew that it would hurt her, why did you do it?" I could feel Lissa pounding on my arm like a four year old child, screaming at me to put Adrian down. Christian was trying to pull her off of me, and Mia and Eddie were just standing there in astonishment.**

**I realized what I was doing. To a moroi. No, it couldn't happen. I put him down roughly and apologized quickly. "Okay… Lets just settle this. We know all of the boys in this room has or at one time had a 'crush' on **_**my**_** Roza. Even you Christian, we all know it." Christian had a large blush on his face but Eddie and Adrian just stood there, holding their titles. Lissa was staring at Christian in astonishment and fury.**

"**It was a long time ago, Lis. Let it go."**

**I started again. "So all of you just back off. I didn't want this to happen but there were only two guys that she loved. One is me and the other one is dead. She'll never love anyone else, ever." Eddie looked like he was about to cry at the mention of his dead best friend. "Now Adrian," I said, turning my attention directly to him. "You know where Rose is and you will tell me. **_**Now**_**."**

**He shook his head. "I don't know where she is but I do know her cell phone number. You could call her but I don't know if she will come back." He offered me his phone and I grabbed it, leaving the room with Lissa trying to follow me. I shoved her back into the room and Christian glared at me.**

**I walked down the hallway and outside to the gate, to tell the guardian there to put the wards back up. He nodded and I walked outside the gate just as he was closing it. I stood outside for a moment, not doing anything.**

**This was the first time I was going to talk to my Roza since we were outside of the caves, getting ready to rescue to the captured. A proper conversation anyway. I didn't want to do this. I would rather she killed me than figure all of this out. I dialed the number anyway and put the phone to my ear.**

"**Adrian?" Her voice said, a little miffed.**

"**No, Roza. It's me."**

**She didn't answer for a moment. "And your back to… normal?"**

"**As much as all of them could make me."**

"**Will you come and talk to me? I need you here."**

"**Of course, love. I'll be there soon. Where, exactly?"**

**She gave me a building number, a floor, and a room number at the Royal Court.**

"**I'll be right there." She hung up before I could say anything more. I felt slightly offended but not too much. I knew she was still confused.**

**I got in my car, hidden in the bushes around the gate and drove off to see the woman I loved.**


	4. Chapter 4

I sat in the room I was staying in, waiting for him. He had sounded normal enough but you could never be sure. I sat on the bed, legs crossed with the TV remote in my lap. I was listening to the news.

"_Today, in the center square of town, a strigoi attack took place. A girl who's name we cannot announce admitted to pulling the wards but with good reason. She also gave the name of the strigoi killer who killed five strigoi but could not protect a moroi who worked as a waiter in the restaurant she was eating at. Her name is Rosemarie Hathaway, a dropout from the Academy. She…"_

There was a knock at the door and I quickly turned off the TV and got up to answer it. Dimitri was standing in the doorway. For some reason, seeing him as his old, dhampir self made me hysterical. I started crying and he pulled me into his arms and onto the bed where we both laid back, enjoying each others company. His arms were wrapped so hard around me that it hurt. I struggled a little bit and he loosened his grip and I suddenly felt bad. I turned around to face him. His eyes were the dark brown that I remembered but his hair was longer than when I last saw him. It was finally down to his shoulders and he wasn't wearing it back like he used to. But nothing was the same as it used to be. For instance, I hadn't cried so much since Lissa's bother and parents died. But now I was crying like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow.

His eyes were filled with reverence and love and passion and… something else. Longing. He had longed for me. I tried my best to give him what he wanted. I pushed myself closer to him and my lips touched his gently. He on the other hand wasn't so gentle. His lips crushed down on mine with force. But it was still the most sweet kiss anyone had ever kissed before.

He broke the kiss and the longing faded but not completely. He lifted me off of him and twisted me around so I was on the bottom and he was on the top. He crawled over me and our lips met again but somehow, this time, fiercer. He wanted more. That wasn't a problem for me.

"Roza," he said. "You don't know how much I've missed you since I was gone. More than you can ever imagine."

All I could manage was, "Ditto."

And soon, all of our clothes were on a pile on the floor and we started off right where the night of the cabin had ended. He was the sweetest thing my body had ever felt and somehow, it was even better than the last time.

"Roza… I love you more than other living being has loved anyone else on the face of the Earth. And nobody is here to prove me wrong."

"No. You're wrong. I love you more."

He chuckled. "Say what you will but there is no arguing with me."

I smiled. "Okay, you win." I cuddled up to him even closer which was quite an accomplishment. He put his arm around me and I snuggled into it, smelling his delicious smell once again.

It was just a matter of time before we would have to go back to our daily lives, if that was possible.

I felt a silence go between us but it wasn't awkward. Nothing was ever awkward with us. "I saw Alberta and Stan holding hands, walking around campus before. Are they together?" I asked, not out of curiosity but just so I could hear his voice again.

He laughed. "So you finally found out, did you? They have been together ever since you came back to the Academy with Lissa. I can't believe you didn't see this earlier. I thought you would have recognized the impressions of first love. I guess you were to caught up in your own."

I smiled. "Don't you mean ours?"

He laughed again and gave me one of his rare, blinding smiles. I pretended to cover my eyes and he laughed yet again.

Before I could say anything else, his lips were on mine and he pulled me into a trance like state where I could only think about him again. Despite that, a question popped into my head.

I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. They were confused; trying to figure out what was on _my_ mind. I sighed and shivered slightly but not from the cold. This question really had a hold on me.

"Answer this with complete honesty, please." He nodded and I continued. "Have you ever… loved another girl like you love me?"

His eyes were not confused anymore; they were filled with despair. He nodded. I sighed in sadness. "What was her name?"

"Her name was… Courtney. She was a moroi who went to the academy with me when I went. I was supposed to be her guardian when we graduated. I fell in love with her halfway through the last year. I told her and she said she loved me too." His eyes were filled with years of sorrow. "We went out until graduation when the academy offered me a job there. They also told me that Courtney was going to work there. So I accepted. We worked by day and were together by night. But one day, she got an urgent call from her father saying her mother was sick. She left on short notice and didn't let me come along. When she got to her house, her mother and father were killed and she soon discovered a strigoi on the second floor and was also soon killed." His eyes started tearing up and he looked like I had never seen him before. "I vowed to her spirit that I would help moroi as much as I could but also… that I would never love again."

I gasped slightly and I wished I had never asked. His fingers stroked my face and rubbed my back.

"But when I found you being the best guardian I could… I couldn't help it. I tried to be even more secure after that night. I tried to keep my emotions in a knot that could never be untangled. But your fingers found a way. They untangled the knot. I don't know how but they did. And I had to take back my vow. So when I finally started to _really_ love you, I promised myself that for in return for the broken vow, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Ever."

He was really crying now but not sobbing. I tried to wipe away his tears but he grabbed my fingers and pressed them against his cheek. Now I really wished I hadn't asked.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry."

"I tried to forget about her but you remind me so much of her! The same eye color and hair… even your personalities were alike although she didn't have the same toughness as you. And I love you much more than I could have loved her. That's the difference."

He pulled me into another kiss, this one much more emotional. I felt a small rivalry for this Courtney I never knew but I also felt sorrow, a lot more of it. She probably deserved Dimitri more than I did.

"What about you? Who did you love?" The question took me by surprise. He was the only one for me. And yet…

"At one time, I felt… something for Mason. But it was basically nothing. Just something to make me more upset when he died. He wasn't who I loved."

"What about Adrian?"

"Adrian… kissed me today but I didn't feel anything. Not like when you do. It's not the same with him. He just wants me because I'm off limits. You want me because you love me."

Dimitri was staring at my face, shocked. "He _kissed_ you? How could that bastard-"

I shook my head. "I was the one who accepted the date. He wanted to finish it with just a little something more than I wanted. It's okay. I'm not _that _upset." I snickered. Dimitri looked upset.

"You're mine. Don't forget that. Nobody else can have you even when I am a strigoi. Do you understand that? Nobody else."

I kissed him then, letting him know that he was absolutely right. No one could take his spot. His hands braided themselves into my hair and I locked my arms around his neck. Nothing could ever separate us.

"We should get back to the Academy soon," Dimitri said with an almost faked sorrow.

"But I don't want to go back!" I complained in a joking way.

"We can go straight to your room. I just want to be in a more concealed and safer place than here." He smiled but his eyes were serious.

"You're taking my safety a lot more serious than you need to. It's not that big of a deal. I can protect myself."

He sighed. "You're right. I know you can. It's just… You know."

I nodded and started to put my clothes back on. He followed me with that and took my hand. We left the room and I checked out at the desk on the first floor.

Dimitri's hand in mine felt really strange. It felt as if none of the invasion had happened and we were living peacefully, me as Lissa's guardian and Dimitri as Christian's. That would be perfect. We would live at the Royal Court so we wouldn't have to look out for them twenty-four seven and Dimitri and I wouldn't have to hide anymore. It would be absolutely perfect…

But as it happened, we couldn't do that. Now that I had discovered how to change the world, we were going to be as busy as ever not to mention in danger. But I would never let anything happen to my Dimitri. I would never lose him again.

When we got to his car, I hesitated. "Will you tell me how you ended up here? With Mia and the other strigoi?"

He also hesitated but after a few seconds he nodded. We both got in the car and he held my hand on the seat. "I was wandering by myself in Canada. Mia was on a trip to see her uncle working at a restaurant in Toronto. I happened to be in that area. I was about to attack that restaurant when she came along. I pinned her the ground and was about to kill her but she recognized me. I didn't remember her much but she explained who she was and little bits of my memory came back. I started to remember you even more. I left Toronto in search of a better life but nothing came along. I tried to stop killing the humans I fed on. It was very difficult but I managed sometimes. I was starting to get really lonely since I had found a better way to live. I went back to where Mia was staying and asked her for a favor. I asked her to be my traveling companion. She was doubtful at first and she began to trust me. She never stood to close to me and we never touched once. I was starting to go crazy from the smell of her when she came up with an idea. I had explained everything to her so she wanted to take me back to see you. We went back to the academy in Montana and she went in to ask Alberta if she had seen me. She told me that you had just left campus to go to the Royal Court with Adrian. So we went there and Mia pulled all of the wards. What we hadn't realized was that we had been followed. The strigoi following us went ahead and we tried to stop them but they got away and into the restaurant you were eating at. You being so skilled as you are killed all of them and came outside to see us. After you told us to leave and help me, Adrian showed up and told us how. Adrian and Mia convinced the guards to let me into the school by taking the wards down since they had me all tied up and blindfolded and all that. When Lissa saw me, she automatically decided to help and they turned me back into a dhampir. After that happened I accidentally said your name and Lissa went crazy and I terrorized Adrian a bit before coming to see you."

I was shivering in my seat but this time it was from the cold. Dimitri scooted over and pulled me onto his seat. "And that's all?" I confirmed.

"That's exactly what happened. And now we know how to save the world. " He smiled blindingly again I turned my attention to the road.

"Did you… what did… what happened with Mia?"

"What do you mean?"

"She was holding your hand when you found me."

"Oh."

We sat in silence for a moment.

"Nothing happened. She was holding me so I wouldn't run off. That's all." I looked straight into his eyes and I could tell he was lying.

"What really happened?" I asked with as much force as I could manage.

"She… she tried to kiss me. Right before I was explaining you and me to her, I was upset and she tried to make me feel better."

"She-Mia? She wouldn't… Would she?"

"She was upset too. I almost abandoned her out in the wild. It wasn't the same after that. We didn't talk at all and we stayed at least two feet away from each other. But when the strigoi came out from behind us, she took my hand. She was scarred and so I didn't let go."

I turned my head into his chest so he wouldn't see me tear up. He ran his fingers down my hair, playing with it as he drove. Again, I wished I had never asked.


	5. Chapter 5

When we got to the academy again, we were greeted by three people that I _really _didn't want to see right now. Number one: Janine Hathaway, my mother, Guardian extraordinaire, always willing to give a helping hand but also very willing to smack you with that same hand.

Number two: Headmistress Kirova, the biggest bitch on the face of the Earth, bossy and overly controlling, always wants it her way and if somebody agrees with her, she automatically changes her mind.

And last but _definitely _not least, number three: Lissa Dragomir, spirit user moroi- okay wait a second. Why was I reviewing my best friend?

The point was, I really was not happy to see these people. Dimitri squeezed my hand. Janine stared at out interlocked fingers with disbelief and anger at the same time. What could be going through her mind?

Kirova was staring at Dimitri, distrust clear on her face and anger that might as well have been spelled out in her eyes.

But the face that surprised most was Lissa's; she was _happy_. And not the kind of happy that you had for turning in somebody that you didn't like. It was the kind of happy when you saw your friend after a long time, say… when they were on vacation. This was a very friendly happy. I hadn't been keeping a close watch on her emotions lately but the happiness that ran through her mind right now actually _scared _me. That's how happy she was.

The guardian at the gate opened up and Lissa came running at me at full speed. She stopped in front of me, raised her hand and gave me a sharp slap on the face. Then she hugged me. This child was mental. I hugged her back anyway and whispered the most sincere apology in her ear.

She stepped back and smiled. Janine and Kirova were behind her, glaring at me with enough dislike to kill a donkey. And donkeys really didn't care.

"Well, well. You're back, Rosemarie. Have you become a blood whore yet or did you accomplish much on your trip to Russia?" Janine was being a lot harsher than she needed to be at this moment.

Dimitri reacted before I could do anything. He basically growled at her before _he_ gave her a smack. She held her jaw as if it was broken and stared at him in disbelief as if she had just noticed he was here.

Kirova spoke next. "How is this man alive? Eight months ago, we were sure that he had turned strigoi and now here he is, _holding your hand._ Or am I just hallucinating?" If she wanted an answer, she didn't get one. She addressed me, not Dimitri, so when he spoke and I didn't, she was even more pissed off.

"If you may, Headmistress Kirova, back down. On Rose's travels, she became aware of a way to turn strigoi back into what they were previously. I understand that this could change the fate of the entire world so that is why we are here. For this matter," he raised our intertwined hands, "I have been in love with Rose since we discovered Victor the first time with Lissa in the cabin. But since she is no longer a student here, and I am no longer a teacher, I think this is acceptable, no?" He smiled triumphantly at their shocked faces.

"But… I thought Tasha Ozera…" said Janine.

"How do you find out about all these things? No, Ms. Ozera was just a distraction from my work." He smiled again and Lissa's face turned hard. This was what had me worried. My distrust in Lissa.

"Shall we take this conversation into more appropriate accommodations, ladies?" I giggled and my mother glared at me harshly.

We walked into the school grounds without any invitation and made our way to the guardian entrance. About half way there, we saw the cabin. Dimitri squeezed my hand and smiled at me but it was a weak smile.

"You know what I just realized?" He asked me.

"What?"

"I haven't slept in eight months." We both laughed then and Kirova and Janine both stared at us like we were insane.

Lissa ran up next to me. "What's the joke?"

"Not a joke. A realization. I haven't slept in over half a year." He smiled at her and she laughed too. It felt so good to have everything I wanted. The only thing that was missing was my friendship with Adrian. It would never be the same between us again.

We walked into the school and Dimitri waved at Alberta. She waved back lazily before she stopped in her tracks. A few things, I could hear her mentally calculate in her mind.

First, Dimitri wasn't strigoi. Second, I was holding hands with him. Third, Lissa was standing by my side.

We walked past her but she said nothing, probably in shock. We passed a few other guardians on the way to Kirova's office but they paid no mind to us and if they noticed Dimitri, they didn't react in any way.

Dimitri suddenly turned to Lissa. "Can you go get… our friends? Christian, Mia, Eddie and… Adrian?" She nodded and ran away swiftly.

We continued down the way to Kirova's office and when we got there, we waited for no invitation before sitting down in the two seats across from her. Kirova sat in her seat and Janine stood behind her. We waited in silence for a few minutes in a complete stare down. We glared at each other with almost no blinking whatsoever. When the group filed in behind Lissa, we straightened up because we were involuntarily leaning towards each other.

"How did this happen? How did you figure out to use spirit magic to turn them back?" Kirova said with anger as if she was mad at herself for not thinking of this on her own.

"Well… I was in Russia, looking for Dimitri, completely on the wrong side of the world I might add, and I came across a strigoi. I killed it and while I was hiding it, I saw its eyes fade from red to blue. So I thought that maybe, under all that evil, there was still a soul. Maybe there was still life. So I flew back to Montana and I came back to the academy with Adrian. After we got back, he took me to the Royal Court, just missing Dimitri and Mia by a couple of minutes. We were eating and a couple strigoi attacked us, five of them, I took them all down and then I found Dimitri and Mia outside. After we got a hold of what was going on, I told them to come back here. I met Adrian coming out of the hospital, he went into shock, and told him what was going on and to meet everyone here. I stayed at Court, making sure it was safe enough. Afterwards, Dimitri came to get me but we stayed there for a little bit, trying to stay undercover. Then we came back. That's all of it." It was slightly out of order but it would have to do. I couldn't tell them the _whole_ truth. That would get ugly.

Janine grunted and Kirova stared at me, wide eyed. "I can't believe you found a way. This is going to change life! This is great! We wont have to live in danger anymore. But there aren't many spirit users out there… maybe we could-"

"Excuse me, lady, but we're not just going to be used to heal people we don't even know! I was nearly wiped out with Adrian, Christian and Mia helping me. I don't think I could do that to any more. Dimitri is special! I wouldn't have done that with anyone else, especially someone I don't know!" Lissa was yelling now and everybody, including me, was staring at her in shock.

"I-I didn't mean… I meant that maybe… if we saw one…"

But Lissa was already shaking her head. "No. I won't do it. And Adrian isn't good enough to so it's not going to happen."

An idea, just crazy enough to work, popped into my head. "Excuse me," I said quietly - which was unusual for me - "but I think I have the solution to our problem." Everyone, including Dimitri waited for me to respond. I sighed. "Stakes are filled with magic. Each element can be used for violence and destruction. But spirit magic can't be used that way. Spirit is used for healing. So maybe… instead of filling stakes with destructive ability, we can fill it with life. So maybe, just maybe, when we stab a strigoi, it can be revived. I know we were always taught that magic was life but maybe we were wrong. The people who taught us that never knew about spirit." Everyone stared at me with disbelief. Who knew I could be so smart? Two ideas in two days - a new record.

Dimitri spoke next, squeezing my hand. "Maybe we should give it a try." He turned to Eddie. "Go get Alberta and tell her to bring me two stakes with no power. Do _not_ explain to her why, just do it. Tell her that I sent you." Eddie nodded and ran from the room. His attention was now directed towards Lissa and Adrian. "You two go and find a space large and open enough to perform a ceremony. Christian, go get them lots of medhil and Mia, go research if there are any spirit users in the country. If there are, send out to them to confirm it and then tell them where we are and how to get here and tell them to come as soon as possible." My mother stared at Dimitri with a hatred that rivaled my love for him. "Janine, I would appreciate it if you would stop staring at me like that and if you would please go with Lissa and Adrian."

She nodded angrily and followed them out of the room. "Headmistress, please go with them."

"And what will you be doing?" She asked almost suspiciously.

"Well, first, I would like to be reassigned to Christian and Eddie to Adrian, and then," he paused. "Rose and I will be tracking down some strigoi."


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm really, really, really sorry but I totally forgot that the Royal Court was in Pennsylvania. Can we pretend it's just like next to Missoula? Pretty please? Thanks soooooo much. -Zozerz**

**P.S. Somebody left a comment saying I should leave a disclaimer since it has the same name and all so here it is. Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or any of the characters except a few along the way. All rights to the book belong to Richelle Mead. **

* * *

Dimitri and I were in my room packing when there was a knock at the door. It had already been a hour so we had been expecting it. But the thing we weren't expecting was that Adrian was the one to come.

"Just give them to us and leave, faggot," Dimitri commanded rudely.

Adrian shoved the stakes into Dimitri's hand and walked over to me. But Dimitri was quicker. He blocked the path between Adrian and I, and grabbed his arm. He opened the door and shoved Adrian outside.

"Whoa," I said, amused. "Never knew you could be so aggressive to moroi."

"It's just… I feel an unearned hate toward Ivashkov. He only expressed his feelings and I know that he'll never do it again but it still annoys me. It's hard to explain," he said while slumping into a chair in the corner of my room.

I walked over to him and slid my arms down his chest and locked them around his neck. "But you know I'll never feel the same was for him as he does for me so there's nothing to worry about. I'll always love you best." Then he kissed me and pulled me onto his lap with my arms still wrapped around his neck.

"And so will I." We started kissing more… enthusiastically then. His hands slid down to my waist and pulled up my shirt a little. But he suddenly stopped and I groaned. "We need to leave," he announced.

"Do we _have _to?" I said like a five year old child.

"Unfortunately."

We grabbed all of out stuff and each of us held one spirit stake in our pockets. We left the building, then left campus, and then the safety of the wards all together. We walked all the way up to Missoula and stopped by the river. But first, I had some business to take care of.

We walked to the bank and up to the front desk.

"Can I help you?" Asked the lady.

"Uh, yeah. I'd like to return all of the money in my bank account to Adrian Ivashkov." Dimitri looked at me like I was crazy.

"What is your name?"

"Rosemarie Hathaway."

"Alright, just one moment please." Dimitri and I argued internally while the lady behind the desk worked on her computer for a moment. "Thank you so much for choosing the Bank of Missoula."

When we got outside, Dimitri looked at me with a mix of anger and disappointment. "Why did you give the money back? We could have used that!"

"What were we going to do with six hundred thousand dollars?"

He stood there for a second. "Oh… I hadn't realized it was that much."

"That's right." We stood there for a second, our first awkward moment. "So… Where are we going first?"

"I guess we could go beyond state borders since this is one of the most protected states in America. We should go to Wyoming."

"Wyoming? So far? Couldn't we go to, like, the Carolina's?"

"You've never been to good with geography, have you?" I giggled.

He took my hand and we went to the train station to wait for the next train to the border of Wyoming. It would only take a couple hours according to Dimitri who had apparently done this before.

We waited for a good half an hour where boredom almost overtook me and I started doing random stuff. I played with Dimitri's overgrown hair, sat on his lap, fiddled with and started tearing apart the train manual… Stuff like that. Dimitri looked at me with fake disapproval on his face.

When we finally boarded the train, there was virtually nobody there except this greasy guy who was wearing and extremely dirty beanie and covered in ragged clothes who was lying down on a pile of newspapers and snoring that almost overpowered the sound of the train.

I sat on Dimitri's lap again and he tucked my head under his chin and played with my hair. It felt so good to be around him again even if it was next to a smelly hobo. I felt like crying.

"I wish everything could be normal," I said randomly.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his Russian accent standing out a little.

"I mean, that there were no moroi, dhampir, or strigoi and we wouldn't have to worry about anything except where we would go on vacation next."

"Hey, Roza…" He started. "Have you ever been to Durango?"

I shook my head.

"I want to take you there. Next time we get a vacation off together, I'm going to arrange flights for us to go. It's really beautiful there." He smiled warmly and I found that my heart had stopped beating for a second.

"What's it like?" I asked childishly.

"It's by the mountains with great restaurants and amazing scenery. But it's not like any of that matters because when I went there, there was an amazing motel that I stayed in…" He smiled again and I just got the meaning of his words.

I started to giggle for the second time today. What was wrong with me? "Sounds like you're really exited."

"More than you can imagine. But it's not like we can't do it at the academy either…" My heart started beating really fast and he pulled my face up to his and our lips met. His arms were wrapped around my back, holding me to him with unneeded force, but I liked it. It made me feel safe.

There was a muffled sound to our right and a little grunt so we pulled away reluctantly. I tucked my head under his chin again and we rode on.

"What about Tasha?" I asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"When I asked you about who you loved, you never mentioned her…"

"That's because I never loved her." I stared at him with shock on my face.

"Never?"

"I was faking it. I mean, she was sweet and nice but she just didn't hold it for me. She wasn't all that pretty and she wasn't tough." I tilted my head in confusion. "Well, she was tough, but not in the way you are. She couldn't handle emotional stuff. When I told her I wouldn't go with her to Romania, she broke down. I don't think I could have dealt with that kind of stuff."

"But I've broken down before. Like in the cabin."

"Yes, but you didn't see her. She wasn't even trying to control herself. It was insane. I could see you were trying." He smiled. "But the weird thing is, she never stopped and it started to become annoying. She followed me around for _ages_ after that. Something about plotting to get rid of me…" He grinned from ear to ear. "It was actually kind of amusing, watching her destroy herself like that."

"That's not nice," I said but I was grinning too.

We waited for a long time before the train got to Wyoming. We got off at the first stop and walked hand in hand to a motel. Even after a couple days, I still couldn't believe that the man I was trying to kill for eight months was now holding hands with me.

We checked in at the motel and left our stuff in our room. It was well furnished, not much of a design since mostly everything was gray. It wasn't very big either.

When we got back outside, I stopped Dimitri. "Where are we going first?"

"Um… Maybe we should go into the forest out of town. We would find more there, maybe in caves or something."

I nodded and we walked on. Night was falling so there was a better chance of finding them. As we walked, the tress gradually thickened and moss sloshed beneath our feet. After a long a tiring walk, we found some evidence that might have led to our objective.

"A trail of blood," Dimitri commented after he stopped and examined the ground.

"So we're going the right way?"

"Most likely." He paused for a moment and looked at me.

"Roza, if anything happens to me-"

"I'll stab you with the spirit stake," I interrupted.

"No, Roza. I meant if I died." His words were like daggers in my heart.

"Never," I whispered.

He sighed. "Alright. But if anything happens, run. Run like you never ran before. Run even faster than the night after the cabin."

I nodded slowly.

That's when they started coming.

"Aw, how sweet. Two lovebirds coming to kill all the strigoi in the forest. Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov. How wonderful to see you both here today."

* * *

**You love my cliffy... right???? I'll get to writting again soon but as I said before, my computer is having issues and I have to transfer everything after I write it so your going to have to wait maybe another two or three days. Really sorry. R&R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it has been such a long time! I just got my computer fixed but then all my files were erased and I had to start over again. But they are here now so be happy!**

Before us stood a strigoi who looked about twenty-five but probably a lot older. Dimitri seemed to know him because he glared at him and muttered something under his breath.

"We aren't here to hurt you, were here to help. If you could just… hold still…" He didn't sound very convincing. "Marko, we can help. Please."

"Marko? That's not my name anymore. My name is Okram."

"That's the same thing backwards," I said in a very smartass way.

The strigoi growled and I scowled. Dimitri held me back as more and strigoi started to appear. There was probably about twenty of them in all but it looked like a lot more.

"Roza… I want you to stay opposite me. Turn around now."

"Ah, Rose. I heard all about you from Asiah before you killed him. While you were there, he told me about you, telling me how aggressive you were and how beautiful…" He leaned involuntarily around Dimitri and took a deep breath…

And Dimitri stabbed him. Just like that. But it didn't end so simple. An explosion of light came from his chest. It blew me off of my feet and when I hit the floor, Dimitri landed next to me with a huff. A few strigoi were blown away too but most stood their ground. I quickly jumped to my feet and warded off a few who were trying to attack us. Some were looking at Marko with dismay. Others were lying on the ground with him and were moaning in the same way he was.

"It's… contagious almost. It infected a few of those around him as well as him. It really works," Dimitri whispered in my ear. I could tell he was right because a few of the fallen strigoi had started to get up and their eyes… they were normal. A light green, dark brown, pale blue… It was wonderful.

So I took action. I started aiming at strigoi hearts left and right. Explosions of light erupted around me but somehow I managed to stay upright in a fighting position. Dimitri was a blur around me and he too was going at them with all his might. When only one was left, he looked at me to do the honors and as the strigoi jumped, I plunged the stake straight through him.

I was breathing heavy although I only took down about five. Dimitri did too and the other half was taken with the explosion. It was amazing knowing I was saving lives and not taking them. When I was explaining to Deirdre how I wanted to spend my life killing strigoi, I hadn't realized how much that wasn't true. I wanted to save them more than I wanted to kill them. But there was no way. It wasn't possible. Until now.

"Whoa…" I whispered intensely. "I guess fighting to keep them alive is a lot easier than fighting to kill them."

Bodies were around us though none of them were dead. Marko was in a sitting position, looking at me. He was really quite attractive when he wasn't tinged with evil. His eyes were dark brown as was his hair and he was only a little bit taller than me. He had muscles too but not quite as big as Dimitri's.

"Dimitri Belikov. I always knew that you would do something good in the world," the former strigoi said in exasperation.

"Actually, it wasn't me. It was Rose." He gestured to me with his right hand and I took it and intertwined it with my own.

"Well then, Rosemarie, you have done a fine job with reviving our country. How many have you saved so far? Fifty? One hundred?"

Dimitri's eyes sparkled. "Only one, not including you guys," he explained.

"Who might that be?"

"Me."

Several people gasped and Marko looked disbelieving and astonished.

"You were a strigoi? How?"

Dimitri already had this all planned out. "There was an attack of strigoi at St. Vladimir's Academy and Rose and I and a few other guardians took them all down and went on a rescue mission for those who were captured. I was bitten. When I saw an old friend of Rose's, she helped me come to my senses and helped me find her."

"But… how did you revive us?" Marko looked so helplessly confused.

"That is harder to explain. Come back to our motel and we'll tell you all about it." I stiffened. All these people in one room? This was going to be a challenge.

Dimitri and I helped all the former strigoi up - all of them were either moroi or dhampir, no humans - and led them out of the long forest while Marko introduced everyone.

"There are seventeen of us - including me - in all. Jesse, Alex, Matt, Morgan, Gaby, Reid, Jack, Steven, Nicole, Luna, Carolyn, Eric, Rachel, Brianna, Karina, John and me," he said with no hesitation. "We've been together as a group for over a year and it's been fairly easy because of out numbers. Nobody has been able to take us down because they are usually alone and they usually aren't the two greatest guardians ever born."

I reddened slightly and Dimitri squeezed my hand. "Are you going to tell me how you guys know each other?" I asked.

"Marko and I know each other from the academy. He used to work there until he was assigned a moroi and left. Apparently, he became a strigoi," Dimitri said lightly.

"Yes… I was devastated to see my moroi die even when I was a strigoi. It was one of the Dashkov's, I think. I don't remember to well."

I flinched at the name Dashkov. Victor Dashkov and I never saw eye to eye.

"Was it possibly Marrisa Dashkov? She was killed about two years ago," Dimitri suggested.

"Yes, yes, that was her. Victor Dashkov's sister. He was a nice guy, he was." Marko nodded.

"Er…" I hesitated. "Victor Dashkov is in prison for torture and confoundment," I explained angrily.

"Is he really? Who did he torture and confound?"

"He tortured Vasilisa Dragomir and confounded Rose and I," Dimitri said hesitantly.

"Confounded you to do what?"

"Uh… He put a lust spell on us," Dimitri explained. I looked at him in shock. I hadn't known he would tell this former strigoi. But he didn't look at me.

"He did?" Marko asked, staring at out interlocked hands.

"Yeah," I answered dully.

"Don't tell anyone though. Ever."

"Of course not."

We stayed silent for a while after that. Dimitri had never told anyone that before. He must have really trusted this Marko guy.

We finally reached the motel. I suddenly realized a problem. How were we going to fit seventeen people in one small hotel room? They couldn't have their own since they didn't have any money.

"Come around the back way," Dimitri said. We went around to the back of the building and went through the door that said 'Employees Only.'

We went up the stairs to our floor and we went to our room with all seventeen people trailing behind. Dimitri got out the door card and slid it through the slot and we went in. We sat on the bed while all the others filed in. They were talking amongst themselves as if they hadn't been the most evil things on the planet ten minutes ago. I heard a couple people talking about how nice the weather was. But then again, most of them probably hadn't seen the sun in over a year.

"So… what are we going to do now? I mean, we can't just let all you guys leave. You don't have any money, any place to stay…"

Dimitri sighed. "Roza is right. Should we bring you back to the academy so you can be re-trained and relearn all the magic that you guys lost. Sound good?"

"Yeah… Um. Roza? Where did that come from?" He asked curiously.

"Uh…" I said dumbly.

"Roza is Rose's Russian nickname."

"Yes… but is she Russian?"

"No," I answered.

"Then why do you call her that?"

We both hesitated.

"Is Rose your lover?"

"Oh, Jesus Christ." I stared at Dimitri. How did he guess? Did we make it to obvious? The only person who really knew was Adrian but Lissa was suspicious and she probably told Christian…

"Yeah," Dimitri answered finally. The small room was silent and sweaty. Everybody was cramped together and sitting on anything they could.

"Maybe we should get you guys rooms…" Dimitri said. "Try to um… pair up with a few people you wouldn't mind sharing a room with. I don't have _that_ much money so you guys have to have as many in a room as possible." People started pairing up immediately, eager to be out of this crowded rooms. Eventually, the pair-ups were Morgan, Gaby, Carolyn and Rachel… Nicole, Luna, Jesse and Matt… Reid, Jack, Steven, Eric and John… Alex, Brianna, Karina and Marko. That was four rooms not including the one we were all in now. So Dimitri went down to the lobby while I stayed there to make sure everybody was in line.

In the few minutes I was with these people, I learned a lot about them. All of them had partners except Marko. Almost nobody stayed with their partners except Luna and Jesse, and Alex and Brianna. All of them had come from either New York, Conneticut, and New Jersey. They traveled together as a group when they met Marko, but before that, they just kept in touch.

When Dimitri came back, he handed out room cards and people started eagerly leaving. Five minutes later, everyone was gone except Marko. He sat on our bed and looked around the room, uninterested.

"Marko…" Dimitri sounded eager to have him leave as soon as possible.

"I just wanted to talk to you about one thing, Dimitri." Marko motioned with his head towards me.

"If you want to talk, Rose stays." Dimitri glanced at me and I nodded.

"Fine. Um… I don't know how to go about this." Marko paused. "It's just… I killed a lot of people. Do you really think that they will accept me back as a guardian?"

I laughed softly and Marko glared at me.

"Of course they will. I was accepted back - sort of - and they will accept you too."

"What do you mean… 'sort of?'"

"Well… Rose's mother wasn't exactly very happy to know that I had slept with her daughter…" Dimitri explained hastily.

"Oh." Marko looked kind of awkward alone with us. "Well, I must be going now. I can't tell you how grateful I am to be a dhampir and I give you a thousand thanks from both me and my friends." He got up from the bed and walked across the room to the door. "Thank you." He left.

Dimitri locked the door. "Finally," he muttered.

I smiled. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. His lips crushed mine and he started pulling my shirt over my head but couldn't manage it without breaking the kiss. When we finally did, he took off mine and his and I traced his muscles with my fingers. He kissed me again and led me to the bed. When we laid down, the bed creaked and we both laughed. He finally managed to take off both our pants and that's when I kind of started to get a little blurry. It was just as good as any other time, maybe even better which is hard to imagine.

When we were done, we lay back on the bed and he held me in his arms like the first time in the cabin or in his room with the lust spell, both driven by unknown forces. That was when it really started. I have to give Victor _some_ credit because without him, Dimitri and I would have never been together. Maybe we would have at some other time but that was truly the start of it all.

"Remember how I told you I would take you to Durango?"

I nodded.

"Well, when I was downstairs in the lobby, I made a few calls. We don't have to be back at the academy until next week. I booked a plane for tomorrow and all the former strigoi are taking a train back to Missoula where Janine is going to wait for them. She'll probably try to stab them all, but I think they can manage."

I smiled childishly. "She's still not on board with the whole, 'you and me' thing."

Dimitri sighed. "I know. I think before I was turned, she was just starting to like me too. What a wasted effort." He chuckled. I traced his abs while he played with my hair. He was so warm and comfortable. I tilted my head up and my lips found his. A very romantic moment. I wish we could have stayed like that forever, with nothing to worry about and everything to love.

So as life goes on, bad things have to happen. But for me, life was perfect in this moment. For now at least…

**OMG! Isn't that amazing how Dimitri see's his old friend again? All are happy except maybe Lissa… Oops! I'm reading ahead into the future. Maybe I should be a fortune teller! Read and review for even more juicy action between EVERYBODY! I take suggestions! R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

As we boarded our plane to Denver, Dimitri took all my bags and put them in the overhead. We sat first class and I put my seat back as far as it would go. Dimitri did the same just to be eye level with me. He took both my hands in his and traced my palms over and over again. I laid back in my seat and stared into his eyes for the longest time. I soon fell asleep but awoke soon to find the plane lowering slowly to the ground.

Dimitri smiled at my yawning face and lightly kissed my lips and the same static shock went through my body, just like that night in the cabin back at St. Vladimir's. A question suddenly popped to mind.

"Will I ever get to be a guardian, Dimitri? I mean, I never got my promise mark even though I have killed far more strigoi than half the guardians on campus. Is there any way…?" I trailed off, leaving the thought unspoken.

Dimitri stared at me for a moment. His face was calculating but still compassionate. "There is one way. Long ago in Russia, there was no schools or academies to become guardians. You trained on your own or you got a personal trainer. When you turned eighteen or anytime later, you underwent a test of your abilities. You would fight five qualified guardians, and if you won, you would become one yourself. If you didn't, you would train for two or three more years before taking the test again. You are definitely capable of taking down five guardians but… I'm not sure we'll be able to let you take the test. They closed that down immediately after a few academies opened up and that was a good fifty years ago. But I do know some people who could try convincing the new king to let you…"

"Wait a sec. The new _king_? What happened to Tatiana?"

"You didn't hear? While I was with Mia, she told me that a few months ago, Tatiana died of… some disease. I can't remember the name. One of the Ivashkov's has the thrown now. His name is… Marcus. Marcus Ivashkov. He's not a close relative of Adrian's but their still related. I wish they would get a different family up there already."

"Finally. I hated that old witch." **(Both Rose and I speaking at the same time).**

"Roza… I'm not sure that they'll let you become a guardian. Not now, not since you're a drop out." His eyes gleamed with sadness.

"What?" I whispered. "They have to. They have to…"

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll talk to somebody. I can make it happen."

"But you just said…"

"I meant that they probably won't put you as a moroi's guardian. I can try to make that happen too but even with Lissa… They think you'll be too much of a danger to her."

"What…" I was about to ask a question when I was abruptly pulled into Lissa's mind.

Adrian shook his head. "I can't get through to her. Either she hasn't been asleep the last few days or she has found some method of blocking me. I can't tell."

"Well I really don't think that she hasn't been sleeping. Why would she try to block you though?" Lissa asked.

"Well, I guess she doesn't want me in her dreams anymore now that she has Dimitri…" He trailed off. "Why'd you want to know where Rose was?"

"I-I think I'm… pregnant."

I was pulled out of her head then by Dimitri, tugging on my shoulder.

"Roza? What's wrong?"

"Sorry. I had another out-of-body experience." I paused. "Lissa… might be pregnant."

"What?!" Dimitri scream-whispered. "With Christian's baby?"

"Who else would have knocked her up besides him?"

"Calm down, I was just asking." He shook his head. "She's so young… she should be able to have so many experiences before this kind of thing happens. She still has to go to college…"

"I could always look after the kid while her other guardian looks after her." It would be better than accompanying her to arithmetic class.

"I don't know…" He looked extremely concerned.

"The more reason that I should become her guardian. I can look over her and the baby at the same time."

Dimitri sighed. "If you insist. But now, we have other things to think about. We're landing," he said just as we hit the ground.

"We'll talk about it on the plane to Durango," I insisted.

He nodded and we waited to get off the small plane. When we boarded the next one, it was even smaller. There was only twelve rows and I think Dimitri called it a puddle-jumper or something like that. It was used to get up small mountains or cross small bodies of water that would usually take longer to cross or get around. It was very boring looking and everybody was squished together. They kept having problems with the engine or something so we were stuck there for an hour more than necessary. Even though there were no first class seats, we sat in the front anyway for privacy.

Since I no longer got headache's, only saw ghosts, my head was filled of Mason and Asiah and Elena. Even the blonde strigoi. Dimitri saw that I moaned and took my hand in his. There was nothing more that he could do. He still didn't know if I was crazy or not even Mason _had_ warned us about the strigoi.

"Roza, just close your eyes and go to sleep for a while. I'm sure that the ghosts will go away after we land," Dimitri reassured me.

It was then that I realized that I hadn't seen many ghosts lately. Was it because I was closer to life then I was to death? I smiled slightly before drifting off to see…

Adrian.

I groaned. Why now?

"Little dhampir," he sighed. "Finally."

"Adrian…" I sighed too but it wasn't out of happiness. "You can't be here. Not when I belong to Dimitri."

"_Belong _to him? What are you now? His pet? He's not the right guy for you! I AM!" His face was red and a few tears fell from his eyes. The grayness around us seemed to reflect his attitude.

"No… Adrian… Me and Dimitri were meant for each other…"

"YOU HAVE LISSA AND YOUR MOTHER _AND _DIMITRI! WHO DO I HAVE? NOBODY!"

I flinched at his volume. We were about four feet apart. He raised both his arms as if to embrace me from afar. I shook my head. I didn't want Adrian to be miserable but I _needed _to be with Dimitri. Besides, it wasn't the same with Adrian. There was no spark- no electricity like Dimitri and I had. I could never be without my soul mate. The thought of me once wanting to kill him was now absurd and outrageous. It could never happen, even if he _was_ still strigoi.

Adrian walked over to me, closing the space between us. He wrapped his arm around my waist and moved a piece of my hair from my face. I shook my head frantically but didn't move. His lips were only a few centimeters away from mine when… I was being shaken softly awake by Dimitri. I was extremely glad for the interruption. In no way did I want to kiss Adrian again.

"We're here?"

"We're about to land," he answered softly.

I waited impatiently while the plane hit the ground and got off quickly. We carried all our bags out to the front of the tiny airport and set them down. I had no clue what we were doing.

"Wait here," Dimitri commanded.

I stood on the side of the curb and waited. Even though it was summer, it was still cold. It was around eight so it was fading to darkness every minute. I shivered in my t-shirt and my arms were suddenly being rubbed.

"Let's get you into the car." He pulled out a ring of one key and clicked a button. A black Mercedes beeped with bright red lights and Dimitri grabbed our bags and put them in the trunk. I got into the passengers seat and admired the car. It was sleek and beautiful and no doubt it was fast. I wanted one of these.

It was finally pitch black outside so I couldn't see any of the scenery. Dimitri held my hand on the seat and turned the heat on. I warmed up quickly and we were soon driving on the highway.

It only took about a half an hour to get to our destination which I figured out wasn't a motel like Dimitri said.

We parked the Mercedes in the driveway to a beautiful, wooden house with a porch and yard. There was another car in the driveway and I gave Dimitri a questioning look. He just smiled and led me to the front door.

A few second after he rang the bell, a woman, probably in her forties with long, light brown hair opened the door.

"Dimitri! What a pleasure to meet you! And you must be Rose." She took my hand and shook it firmly. "My name is Laurel." She led to the right of the staircase in front of us and we passed the living room which had all three walls around it made of glass. In the back of that was the kitchen but in front was a small table, and at it was a man, tall but not as tall as Dimitri with black hair and a bit of a beard. It was more like stubble but whatever. The point- he was handsome. In his arms was a baby, looking more Asian than both of them, who didn't look Asian at all.

"This is Bruce," Laurel said, motioning to the man. "And this is Henry. We adopted him from South Korea, if you are wondering."

Dimitri smiled and shook Bruce's hand.

Bruce spoke: "The only thing you have to do while in this house is look after Vida," he said, motioning to a dog underneath the table.

She was very pretty, a dark gold color with more brown than actual gold. Her fur was very long and her teeth were sharp but she didn't look vicious. Her eyes were a light golden brown. A closer inspection on her tag said her name was not Vida, but Vida Dulce.

"Just feed her the food in the pantry twice a day and walk her once after you wake up and once before you go to bed." We both nodded.

"Are you okay with all that? Okay good. We will be leaving now." Laurel and Bruce walked to the door and opened it.

"Mr. and Mrs. Campell," Dimitri said, nodding.

They nodded back and left. I looked around. The house wasn't gigantic but it wasn't exactly a comfy cozy home either.

"So," I said after a while. "How did you get this place?"

"A friend of mine, Ellen, a dhampir, is friends with Laurel. I told her I needed a place to stay and she told me that Bruce and Laurel were renting this place out for a few weeks. So I said… why not?"

"Are either of them-"

"Dhampir or moroi? No. Purely human. But Henry isn't."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"As they said before, Henry is adopted. They didn't adopt him knowingly, of course but after they found out, they decided to keep him anyway. They'll send him to St. Vladimir's in a few years."

I smiled. "I hope I get to see him when he's older."

"Why are we talking about this?" He asked with a dirty smile on his face.

"No idea."

He carried me up the winding stairs and into Bruce and Laurel's bedroom. He threw lightly onto the bed and jumped on top of me when I landed.

"Now this is more like it," he whispered.

He then cupped my face in his hands and brought me up into a kiss. A little shock went through my body at his touch and a shiver went down my spine. I felt suddenly extremely exhausted. I sighed and I fought with my eyelids. They finally closed on my and Dimitri sighed too.

"Don't worry. We have all week. Get some sleep my sweet, sweet Roza…"

**Okay, so I'm having my first contest! Yay! *Cheers in background* The first person to guess all of my riddles **_**correctly **_**will be able to write chapter 10 of Blood Promise! Of course, it will be under my plot line but the characters can say anything and I get to spiff it up after it's written!**

**Okay, number 1:**

**What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place?**

**Number 2:**

**What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the rich want for it, the poor have it, and if you eat it you'll die?**

**Number 3:**

**There is a house. It has four walls. All the walls are facing south. A bear walks by. What color is the bear? (Have explanation ready).**

**And finally, Number 4:**

**I am a suit no man may wear, neither peasants nor kings, yet no man can go without me. What's got by me shall be well known. What lies at me is the reason for all things. All may touch me when I am soft, none when I am stone. Lose me and you will falter****-yet if I am taken, you will find courage anew. If I am broken, I will keep working. What am I?**

**Thanks soooo much! PM me with your answers!**

**READ! AND! REVIEW!**

**-Zozerz**

**P.S.**

**The contest will end in three days which will be the 15****th****! BE HAPPY! R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R!!!!!!!!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The winner of the contest is Alyssa Belikov! Yay! She will get a sneak peak at chapter 11 and will be able to write chapter 10! Hope you like chapter 9!**

My eyes blinked open and the first thing I saw was Dimitri's face. His brown eyes bore into mine and he was so close to me…

I realized that I was on top of him. I rolled off and to the side before looking at him again. He was smiling now, chuckling too.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You should see yourself," he responded.

I got up from the bed and went into Laurel's private bathroom. I looked in the mirror and my reflection caught me off guard.

My hair was in clumps around my head and I realized that I hadn't showered in three days. My eyeliner was smudged around my eyes and red blotches covered my face. I groaned and suddenly Dimitri was standing there next to me.

"I need a serious shower," I said in a really complaining voice.

"Why don't I come with you?" He said in a very seductive way.

I giggled. He pushed some of the clumps of hair off of my face and his lips caught mine. He wrapped one arm around my waist and used the other arm to guide me to the wall and push the shower curtain open.

After another moment of preparations, we got in the shower and were done in less than ten minutes, which was a record for us. My hair was washed and I was clean, as was Dimitri and I found some of my clothes in the other room and reluctantly got dressed.

Anybody who had seen us before _us_ never really would have suspected that we would become this kind of couple. Most never thought we would be a couple in the first place. So this would come as a surprise to anyone.

We went down stairs to find Vida whining by her food bowl. Dimitri fed her and we hooked her up to a leash.

Going outside, I could really see how amazing this place was. Mountains surrounded us on every side but to the east, where the town was. Although I could have gone for some shopping, we walked around and to a giant lake bordered by a horse farm on one side and mountains on the other. After about three miles, I started to breathe a little heavier. I could hear Dimitri too. This surprised me, thinking that we were both great runners but couldn't walk three miles without getting tired. Dimitri saw the frustration on my face.

"It's the altitude," he explained. "We already live high up in Montana but this is way beyond anything you have encountered yet."

"Oh. I wondered why even you were breathing heavy. It seemed weird, somehow." I looked up and shielded my eyes at once. Now that we were on a daytime schedule, I had no clue when I was able to look up or when I was supposed to go to sleep. Even when I was in Siberia, I was on a nighttime schedule so everything seemed normal. Sort of.

We returned Vida to the house and went into town. We passed a library, a giant candy store which almost lured me in, and lots of little tourist traps. We once passed five souvenir shops in a row.

And of course, when we passed the book store, Dimitri just _had_ to go into buy another Western cowboy novel.

"Go ahead without me. I'll meet you at the candy shop in ten minutes," he said.

I sighed and walked ahead. Almost every store I walked past seemed like the perfect place to spend the entire day in. I went inside one of them just out of sheer curiosity.

As soon as I stepped in the store, the man behind the counter's eyes widened and he rushed to the back. I shrugged and continued to browse the shop. A few times, I thought I saw the back door move but it stopped so soon I couldn't be sure. I was looking at a pair of earrings that I liked when the back door was flung open and some men ran towards me at full speed. They weren't strigoi, I could see that but the weren't human either. Moroi or dhampir… Hm.

I struck one of the men in the chest with my foot and he fell to the floor. Definitely not dhampir but they did have a dhampir build…

And that's when one of them started suffocating me with air magic. I fell to my knees and clawed at my neck. It wasn't going to do any good but what choice did I have? I couldn't breathe and suddenly…

Unconscious. Great. Just great.

When I woke… I was obviously tied to a bed, my arms above me and my legs stretched out below me. I was so stretched that my back barely touch the bed. I struggled to get myself free but I couldn't manage to do anything. If I ever got out of this, I was going to have to take a lesson from an escape artist.

The walls were blank, just white with no windows and only one door. There was nobody inside with me but I would bet my soul somebody was standing guard on the outside.

I kept struggling uselessly but it did me no good. What was Dimitri going to think when I didn't show up at the book store? What time was it? How long had I been unconscious? I'd bet that I had been knocked out far longer than a few hours. Suffocating is not fun. Anybody would have been out long or even in a coma. But not me. I was tough.

A little grunt outside the door told me somebody was coming in. The doorknob turned and it reminded my slightly of a horror movie. Except this was real life.

A man walked into the room, really tall, brown eyes, blonde hair, but the main thing that caught my eye was that he wasn't strigoi. Two other guys walked behind him but I couldn't make out their features.

"Name?" The man commanded me.

I decided to play a little game. "You mean you haven't heard of me?"

He raised one eyebrow and my jealousy made me laugh a little, adding to the effect of my awesomeness.

"My name is… Vasi Lissa," I said, making up a not-so-random name on the spot. "Guardian extrodinare. Killed more strigoi than I like to count. And can I know who I am talking to?"

The guy grunted. "Karkorov. That's all your getting kid."

I huffed a little. "So, are you going to tell me why you brought me here today? Are we playing on a game show?" I asked sarcastically.

"No. Let me just say that in a few months, the Tahti will have taken over your little world." He laughed manically.

I stared for a second. "You've got some serious problems, dude."

"Shut up. Gerard, gag her. We can't have her saying anything."

"Oh, that's pleasa-" I didn't have chance to finish my sentence before a cloth was tied around my neck and in my mouth. It tasted like cigarettes and alcohol and I had no doubts that it hadn't been washed since it was last used.

I choked a little bit before clearing my throat and glaring at the now exiting Gerard. Karkorov hung around a little bit to snicker at my position. He looked back at the closed door and then turned back towards me.

"So, Rose. How are you today?"

My eyes widened. Shock filled my body. How did this man know me? I had never seen him in my life. I told him my name was Vasi.

"Vasi Lissa. You used to be so clever. Now your coming up with names of your best friends. How pathetic. But don't worry, your Dimitri will be joining us soon. You're not alone." Karkorov smiled evilly and left me in the small room alone.

I laid there, wondering how he planned to get Dimitri with me. _And_ how he knew me. Confusion rattled around my brain like a ball in a container.

But the one thing that got to me… I was missing out on my vacation with Dimitri. This place was beautiful but I was stuck… _somewhere_ with no view whatsoever. Killer boredom. Karkorov would occasionally feed me some crap food then leave. It was hard enough to sleep with all the stress plus I was tied to a bed where I couldn't relax. It wasn't even a _comfortable _bed.

A few times I could hear some guards outside, talking or switching shifts or something. That was the only thing I heard for my time there. Even Karkorov didn't talk when he fed me. Life sucked ass sometimes.

Dimitri's POV

I waited another half an hour at the candy shop, and when she didn't show up even then, I went back to the house to see if she misinterpreted my directions. She wasn't there either. I started to get really worried. What could have happened to her?

I had one of those brainstorm things that happen an hour after they should have. I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed her number.

"Dimitri?" A gruff man's voice answered.

I stood in the living room, frozen in place.

"Are you there, Dimitri?"

"Yeah," I finally answered. "Who are you and where is my Rose?"

"_Your _Rose? Don't you mean mine now? I've taken her to become a subject for one of my… Well, you will find out. To address the other question, well I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you the truth because you probably wouldn't know… My name is Ibrahim Karkorov. If you want to see Rose again, come to the souvenir shop across from the library in town." He hung up and Dimitri dropped the phone on the carpeted floor and it landed with a thud.

Rose's father had kidnapped her knowingly. How sick and disturbing. Could he be a strigoi, driven to have her back in the family even at the cost of her soul? If so, it wasn't the worst case scenario due to the spirit stakes.

But it still wasn't great. What if I got captured? What then? I couldn't rescue her when I was tied to a chair in the middle of a strigoi fest.

I tried to approach the situation calmly and failed miserably. My little Roza was captured! But I had to remember that she wasn't little anymore. She was tough and strong. But she couldn't do anything. Not right now, though. Indecision raced through my mind. I had to come up with a plan…

**What is Dimitri's plan? I don't know! It's up to Alyssa Belikov now!**


	10. Chapter 10 and Review

**Alright, I have a couple things to say. I'm sorry Alyssa Belikov but you were taking waaaaay to long to write this chapter. The point is, I **_**really**_** want to get on with the story. So with that, I might as well add that yesterday was the day Blood Promise came out. I got it at six thirty in the morning (the minute the book store opened) and read it in eight hours, not eating anything for the rest of the day and crying at random parts on TV that reminded me of something in the book. I have a brief summary of the **_**entire**_** book, so if you don't want to know what happens and you want to read it yourself, continue on to the next paragraph where I reveal the answers to the riddles.**

**After leaving the Nightingale that night, Rose meets Sydney, the cities Alchemist. After some hostility and a short and surprising strigoi attack, Sydney agrees to take Rose to Dimitri's home sown. But with a price; she had to come along too. So about halfway to the town, they had to stop at this old barn to rest. When two strigoi attacked, Rose realized that strigoi can see ghosts too; and don't like them. After defeating both the strigoi, Rose passes out and wakes up being treated by Olena Belikov. After befriending the family, especially Dimitri's younger sister, she finally tells them that Dimitri was strigoi. They have a funeral and after finally revealing that she and Dimitri were a couple, (sorta) Yeva (his witch grandmother) shows her another spirit bonded couple because she can tell she's 'different.' After finding out much more than she really wanted to about spirit, including how to get in someone's mind who isn't your bond mate and that the spirit user can heal you out of your anger and depression, they give her this ring thingy that's supposed to let her control her emotions and shadow-kissed side effects. Meanwhile, in Lissa's story, Queen Tatiana is controlling her life, making her do all this crap. So when she meets Avery, a royal Lazar, with her brother Reed and Guardian Simon, she knows for sure that Avery is the Queen's doing. But when she sees her arguing with her father and drinking alcohol, she says it can't be. After befriending Avery, Lissa changes. She starts going to party's and she even kissed Aaron, her old boyfriend and the first person she ever slept with. When Christian finds out from Jill, the girl who wanted to learn to fight with magic, he breaks up with Lissa, saying 'If you had told me, this wouldn't be happening right now!' or something like that. But anyway, back to Rose. Easter morning, the Belikov family and Rose (Sydney has already left, leaving a phone number just in case) go to church and see friends of friends who aren't actually friends. (What?) They try to convince Rose to come with them to go into big cities and randomly kill strigoi. She refuses, but when Viktoria, Dimitri's younger sister, starts getting into trouble and might become a blood whore, Rose has to stop it. When Abe (Zmey dude) (I WAS RIGHT… sorry), a business man, comes along and tells Rose to get out and she refuses, he makes her an offer. Get out of the town and Viktoria won't be a blood whore. So she leaves, because apparently everybody wanted her too. She goes with the guys from church and they go to a city called Novosibirsk, they interrogate strigoi until they find one that knows Dimitri. Rose tells the strigoi to tell Dimitri that she was looking for them. So on a way home from strigoi hunting one night, Dimitri just happens to come along and say my favorite line in the entire book which I won't tell you. Okay, yes I will. 'Roza, you didn't remember my first lesson. Never hesitate.' Then he knocks her senseless and puts her in this HUGE estate and makes her an offer. She can be strigoi with him forever, or she can die. Her choice. But Dimitri really **_**wants **_**her. (Cough cough… sorry I have a uh… cold). So he gives her like everything she could ever want, including him although they never have sex which is what she wants soooo bad and he will only do it if she gets awakened. And everyday after like an hour of making out, he would bite her, giving that strigoi bite high that you and both want, you have to admit it. So when she gets in a fight with Adrian waaay back (whoops) he actually does come back telling Rose that Lissa is going insane. Back to her story. Lissa seriously is insane. She drinks, gets bad grades and just doesn't care anymore. And when Avery tries to kill her on numerous occasions, she just doesn't notice. And back to Rose. When she realizes all this is happening outside of her little cloud of strigoi happiness, (making out with a strigoi. Weird, huh?) she burst into action. But not before she sees Dimitri with the ring the other shadow-kissed person gave her. He is asking about his family and being all sentimental. Then she tries to kill him. Wow. She does manage to stun him though. After briefly hearing about her stake in a vault, she asks one of the human servants (more like forces but that's okay) to show this vault to her. After getting a stake with little engravings at the bottom, she asks the human to tell her where the first breakable window is and he directs her to this library where Galina (the person who controls the house) is in and they get in like a full on battle. When Dimitri comes, he unexpectedly attacks Galina and tells Rose to stake her, three more strigoi appear. She takes this as her time to run and leaves Dimitri fighting all of them, hoping that he gets killed in the process so she doesn't have to do it. After running around the estate, she finds out its completely engulfed in a hedge maze which she tries to go through. And then, Dimitri had won against the odds and was coming after her, telling her it wasn't to late for him to change her. She keeps running even with a sprained ankle that she gets after jumping out of the estate (wouldn't you too?) and finally gets out of the maze and onto the country side where she still keeps running. After Dimitri catches up with her, she falls down a rather large hill and into a river in which Dimitri follows her. He almost succeeds in turning her when she breaks away at the last second and runs onto this bridge that just happens to be two stories high. He follows her and says, 'Please, we need to be together.' She says, 'Why?' Dimitri says, 'I want you,' and then she says 'wrong answer' and tries to jump off the bridge. He catches her but she plunges him in the heart and says, 'I'll always love you,' and he goes, 'That's what I was supposed to say,' before falling of the bridge and, as Rose thinks, dying. Then she thinks one of my favorite lines, **_**Worry about staying alive first. Then worry about how you're going to live. **_**She then goes back to Novosibirsk and finds Abe (I WAS RIGHT) and the other spirit bonded couple. She checks on Lissa and finds her trying to jump out of a window. So Oksana (the spirit user) enters her mind entering Lissa's mind to convince Lissa not commit suicide. Then they find out Avery is a spirit user and she tries to put Rose in a scene where everything is perfect and happy and she's with Dimitri and they live near Court and everything. She somehow breaks out of it and continues to protect Lissa who can hear her due to Oksana. When she steps down from the window, Avery appears and she says, 'I'll just have to find another way to kill you,' and then sets her minions (Reed and Simon) who are compulsitized (it's my new word, you like it?) on her and when Adrian shows up, she punches Reed and everything works out nicely because all of the evil spirit induced people in the room go permanently insane. Ha. Rose goes back to her body with Oksana who tells her a crazy story about **_**reviving strigoi**_**. I WAS RIGHT YET AGAIN HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Whoops. So it turns out the only person who has done this is like insane and the only person who is sane enough to know where he is, is VICTOR DASHKOV. So Rose decides it doesn't matter since Dimitri is dead and goes back to the academy where she is welcomed back with joy. She tells Lissa the entire story and even runs into Christian who refuses to take Lissa back even though he knows it was all from compulsionization. The Rose sees her mom again and she tells her that ZMEY IS HER FATHER HAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry. If you don't know who Zmey is, that would be Abe. (I WAS RIGHT!) Then, Adrian asks her out and SHE ACCCEPTS and then she gets a package in the mail from Dimitri saying that he was still alive. It even had the stake that she killed him with in it. So then she asks Lissa if she wants to come on a dangerous and life threatening journey with her and she accepts, not knowing that Victor Dashkov is dangerously involved. And that's the end. But guess what? I WAS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! THROUGH THE ENTIRE THING, except about the Tahti thing but you'll find out about that later. I missed a lot so read the book to find out more! That wasn't really brief was it?**

**Okay here we go. The answers to the riddles were**

**1) Nothing**

**2) e**

**3) white**

**4) a heart**

**Many of you said hope for the last one and I'm sorry for that people, but no. It's not. ON WITH THE STORY!**

Rose POV

The gag started to taste really good after no food in my mouth for a couple days. I kept wondering if Dimitri forgot me, if he was going to leave me here. But when the thought replayed in my head, I realized, that wasn't possible. He would never.

They stopped giving me food after I kicked that Karkorov dude in the balls. I did get water though, for which, I was thankful.

Every time somebody switched shifts outside my door, I heard a handful of words which I managed to get something out of and piece it together very slowly. Tahti… half… promise…

But the killer boredom was the worst. I'd rather they just kill me then whatever they were going to do. Every morning and every night, Gerard would bring me water. Every time, he took off my gag and I tried to get something out of him. He never talked, not even when I asked where he got his shirt from. Not that I cared, really. All I cared about was getting out of this fucking place.

And it went on. It went like this for days until I started throwing up from hunger all over myself. Then they permitted me to go to the bathroom. I think the smell was getting to them. They even gave me a change of clothes. There was no possible way I could escape, though. I was too weak for that. I was hungry and hadn't gotten to sleep much. But that was life in the room, basically.

Dimitri POV

I didn't do anything. Nothing. I could do anything but this. I was in total immediate shock and needed medical health. So much for being a god or saint like Roza called me. I literally sat on the floor and didn't eat for three days straight. But when I got to thirsty to handle, I got up and got myself a glass of water and took a shower.

In the hot water, thinking of my Roza, injured, possibly dead was worse than everyone in the entire world turning strigoi. But I tried to remember… One of my first lessons to Roza was to never hesitate. Another was… never turn around until you're sure your enemy is dead. No. Neither of those was the first lesson. The first lesson was… _run._ So I did. I ran like hell. Of course, this was after dressing and eating as quickly as I could because I doubt I could have fought off whatever Ibrahim had in store for me with an empty stomach and naked.

I ran straight into town and to the store Ibrahim mentioned on the phone. I had my spirit stakes in hand and was ready for whatever was to come. So I was surprised to see a dhampir sitting at the counter, reading a magazine. When he looked up at me, he tried to run towards the back room but I was too fast and blocked his path.

"Where. Is Rose," I demanded.

It didn't surprise me when he didn't answer. What did surprise me was my breath being taken from me. I scratched at my throat and if to get invisible hands away from me. I lashed out all around me, hoping to get rid of the invisible source. I did. I kicked the man in front of me and all the air came back. I realized then that he wasn't dhampir. But he wasn't moroi either. Confusion swept over me as black spot started to crawl into my vision. No. I couldn't pass out. I gave the unknown man another kick in the stomach to keep him busy. I took out the stakes and went through the back room, hoping to come face to face with whatever _it_ was. I didn't.

Around me was a labyrinth of doors and hallways. I didn't know where to look first. I went all the way to the back, in hopes of finding her in the first door I looked. I didn't.

There were several different doors where there were people. In the first one, I ignored them, slamming the doors and locking them from the outside. It wouldn't stop them for long especially if they were magic users like the first guy. But at a different door I listened in on the conversation. "…That Hathaway girl, yeah. If she ever found out about us, we'd be so dead."

"She technically already knows about us since she tried to kill all of us. Ibrahim is really pissed. Don't know why. He just said get her and leave her. It's not like he really knows her…"

That's when I burst in and they all sat frozen, with cards in their hands. Whoa. They were playing cards. I immediately staked the one closest to me and… nothing happened. I mean, he died and everything but, no explosion, no life changing transformation, no nothing. He just… died. All the others were still frozen, looking at me in shock.

"He wasn't made…" I whispered. "He was born."

The others were still looking at me. Except one. He had a phone. I ran over to him, grabbing the phone and breaking but not before he could say: "Break in."

I quickly knocked out all of the others and kept one awake but bleeding. "Where is she?" I demanded once again.

"First door… on right," he whispered. I nodded to myself and knocked him out too.

Okay, so I had found out a couple of things with this encounter. These creatures… whatever they were, were alive. They weren't created, they were born. And why would they all be dead if Rose found them? Would she kill them all or was it because of Ibrahim?

I ran as fast as I could to the first door on the right, knowing that this could very well be a trap. I burst in, seeing Rose first. It was always Rose, first. Then I saw a man who looked extremely like her. Ibrahim. He was standing over her leg which was apparently broken. Four other guys surrounded her. She was bleeding heavily on her arm and she was gagged. I let out a noise that sort of sounded like a growl.

Ibrahim was laughing. "How could you?" I asked in fury. "She's your fucking daughter!"

"What?" Rose asked, obviously confused.

"Sometimes… I have to do some things to get my way. This happened to be one of them." He approached me. I was positive I could take him down. And yet…

Something was pulling on my insides. In was like I was being forced to the floor. I couldn't control myself.

"Dimitri!" Rose yelled.

"Quiet," Ibrahim hissed.

I could see his henchmen going towards Roza. He had his hand in a fist. He was controlling me. With earth magic. Ouch.

"No! Dimitri! NO!"

Someone hit her hard and there was a thump.

"Dimitri…" She whispered.

"Roza…" I whispered back. Ibrahim had me lying on the ground in an extremely uncomfortable position. I twitched.

"No. No! NO!" I was getting up. I didn't know how it was possible, but I was doing it. Ibrahim crushed both his hands into fists. I was fighting against myself. I was finally in a standing position but I felt suddenly drained. "You will not hurt her," I said.

All five people were suddenly surrounding me. I punched one and he stumbled backwards. I was being forced down again but I was resisting. I kneed one of them in the groin and they fell over in pain. I did this to several of them until it was only me and Ibrahim.

"You are weak. I know how you work. I studied the human body for years. You are weak," he repeated.

"Never." And I took the stake from my waist and stabbed him, just like that. Rose didn't even flinch. I did this to all the other men in the room until it was only me and Rose.

**GO DURANGO! I'm there right now, and if you Google image it, you'll find awesomeness. Lol. I hoped you liked the review which was longer than the story and I am sorry again Alyssa Belikov but I couldn't wait!**


	11. Chapter 11

_**I pressed my lips to hers with enough force to push her back onto the bed she was tied to. She uncomfortably pressed hers back to mine. After we broke apart, I rested my forehead on hers. She sighed and moaned slightly.**_

"_**Oh. Right." I started untying her from the bed, first her legs, then her wrists. She twisted one around and rubbed it with her other hand. Her left leg was broken and she had a lot of scratches and cuts all over he body but it wasn't anything too**_** serious.**

"**My Roza. Why is it always you?"**

"**I've been asking myself that for the past four years," she replied solemnly.**

**I lifted her off the bed and I pressed her lips to mine again. A little shudder went through her body.**

**Rose POV**

**A thought started going through my brain. All the times we had together, good and bad, were forced down on me.**

…_**none of the bravado he usually showed. Well, there was "usually," then there was being held by the collar by a really ripped, really tall, and really pissed-off Russian guy.**_

**And another.**

_**In that moment, we pulled away briefly, still oh so close. Everything in the world rested on that moment.**_

"_**We can't," he told me.**_

"_**I know," I agreed.**_

_**Then his mouth was in mine again and this time, I knew there was no turning back.**_

**The memories just kept coming. I was soon overwhelmed and Dimitri was shaking me, asking what was wrong.**

"**Nothing is wrong," I said. "It's just… I love you."**

"**Rhonda was wrong," Dimitri said suddenly. "My soul is nothing compared to you."**

**More memories flashed through me. I saw him and me in a car, listening to crappy music and me wishing we would have to cuddle for warmth. There was him, telling me I was a child in front of Tasha and him kissing me in the gym locker rooms just a month later. Him and I, under the influence of Victor's lust spell…**

**And soon, everything went black. I kept drifting in and out over time. I saw him urging me to wake up but I couldn't say anything. At one time, I thought I saw Mason hovering over Dimitri's shoulder, making a sad face. I saw Vida, the dog and then an airport. The interior of a plane and Dimitri with tears streaming down his face but I couldn't tell him I was okay.**

**Soon, I saw my mother and Lissa. Even Christian stood over me with a worried expression. I saw the academy doctor, Dr. Olendzky. Lissa pressing her hand to my heart and crying. I saw the doctor whispering to Dimitri. I tried to get my lips to move but they wouldn't. I could almost hear what the doctor was saying. "Black out… concussion… can't help… needs to… own." I couldn't catch anymore than that.**

**I tried to move in anyway but it was like I couldn't control my muscles. Dimitri was crying hard now and so was Lissa. A tear even escaped Christian's eye.**

**Then I had a total black out. I laid there for who knows how long. It could have been minutes. It could have been months.**

**When I finally woke up, it turned out to be months. Dimitri sleeping on a cot in the corner of the room and Dr. Olendzky was sitting at a little desk, writing something. I shivered a little bit and coughed slightly so she would know I was there.**

**She turned around quickly in her spinning chair. "Rose?"**

**I coughed again, this time genuinely and moaned, "Water…"**

**She ran out of the room and kicked Dimitri's cot on her way out. She said something unintelligible and ran down the hallway.**

**Dimitri slowly blinked open his eyes and came to his senses. I wasn't exactly sitting up but I was in a position where you could tell I was awake.**

"**ROZA!"**

**I tried to get up but he ran over to me and pushed me back down. "Roza," he cried. "Roza…"**

**I coughed again and tears started falling down his face. "How long?" I whisper-coughed.**

"**Roza… three months. Roza."**

**He let go of the hand I hadn't known he'd been crushing and walked over to the other side of the bed. It was big for a hospital bed so he laid down next to me and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed the top of my head and down to my neck and around until he found my lips. The sensation was blissful, extraordinary, although my coughing soon ruined the moment. He sat up and stroked my hair.**

**The doctor came back in and glared at Dimitri. "You shouldn't be on her bed," she said. But she let it slide and handed me my water. I gulped it down in a second and she looked at me disapprovingly. She took the glass back and left the room again.**

"**What… happened?" I whispered, my voice a little clearer this time.**

"**You… you lost consciousness in the back of the souvenir shop and I brought you back to the academy. The doctor was not pleased to see you back. In this room anyway. She gave you sedatives and said that you would be okay and up and about in three weeks, after your leg healed. She said you had a concussion and it wasn't good for you to be asleep. I stayed with you the entire time. When you didn't wake up, the doctor got worried and did all she could to wake you. When you didn't come around, she took some tests to check on you and it turns out…" He didn't finish. Horror was in his eyes. "Who did you sleep with, Roza? I won't be mad… just tell me."**

**I you thought I was confused, you're damn right. "What do you mean? I never slept with anyone but you."**

"**Don't lie to me, Rose." His voice was stern and I flinched.**

**He instantly softened. "Please."**

"**I didn't. Never." I tried to make him believe me. "What makes you think I did?" I asked, although I thought I already knew the answer.**

"**Roza… you're pregnant. It's not possible for you to have only slept with me. If you slept with Adrian… it's okay. I won't be mad."**

**I tried to make him see reason. "I've. Never. Slept. With. Anyone. But. You." A tear escaped my eye and I grimaced. It couldn't be possible.**

"**Roza…" He still didn't believe me.**

**Dr. Olendzky cam back in the room, handed me another glass of water and stared for a second before composing herself.**

"**Doc, I need you to take DNA tests of the baby."**

"**Why? You don't know who's it is?" This time, her look wasn't disapproving, it was outraged.**

"**I do know. But Dimitri won't believe me."**

"**Who is it, Rosemarie?"**

"**It's his." Before I even finished the short sentence, she was shaking her head.**

"**It's not possible, Rose. I'll check for you so you know, but I'm positive it's not his." She walked over to me. "I'm going to have to put you back under. I don't think your body likes it, but I'll only put a little in."**

**She picked up a small little tube full of cloudy liquid and I groaned.**

"**I just got you back, Roza. Don't leave me again," Dimitri said, taking my hand as darkness overwhelmed me once again. I think I got in one last groan before I fell back under.**

**When I woke up, Dimitri was sleeping on the cot again but the doctor wasn't in the room. "Dimitri," I whispered. "Dimitri," I said a little louder.**

**He grunted and rolled over… right onto the floor. He shot up like a bullet and ran over to me.**

"**Have they gotten the results back yet?" I asked.**

"**Dr. Olendzky is going to get them right now. She said she would be back soon."**

"**Good. Then I can show you that it **_**is **_**yours." He was shaking his head.**

"**It's not possible, Roza. I know you want it to be but… Can you please just tell me?"**

"**Can you please just trust me? I would never sleep with anyone else. I've been with you for three months. I'm three months pregnant. I didn't talk to any men before I came back. Me and Adrian would have never, plus you crashed the party with Mia before we even got our food. Please, just trust me."**

**He stared at me, eyes wide with a compassionate look in them. "I want to Roza, it's just… impossible."**

**Just then, Doc came back into the room with a few sheets of paper in hand and her glasses in another. She looked shocked. "I don't believe it. Mr. Belikov, you are the father of Rose's unborn child. But… it's not… possible."**

"**Yeah, I think we've established that," I joked. Then reality hit me. I was having Dimitri's baby. "Dimitri. My baby… our baby… is inside if me."**

**He hadn't moved since Dr. Olendzky spoke. Is it possible? He was thinking. I knew it. He grabbed my hand and his nails dug into my palm.**

"**Our baby." He kissed me then, soft at first but suddenly rough and hard soon. A little cough interrupted us and he pulled away. He was looking straight into my eyes, love written in them with a huge smile. "Our baby," he said again.**

**I saw a little silver cell phone in his shirt pocket and grabbed it without him noticing until it was against my ear. "Hello?" A clear voice rang out.**

"**Liss, come to the hospital. Right now. Do you hear me? Now."**

"**Rose? Is that-"**

**I hung up.**

**When I looked back to Dimitri, he was kneeling on one knee.**

"**Oh my God," I whispered.**

"**Rosemarie Elizabeth Hathaway, will you marry me?"**

**I couldn't speak for a second but when I regained my voice, I whispered, "Yes." I kissed me then, awkwardly because of the bed but passionately. It was the best kiss we ever shared, anyone ever shared. Olendzky grunted again but we ignored her. She sighed and sat down in her chair, turning the other way.**

**After a few minutes, a little knock came at the door and Doc went to open it. Lissa was at the door, Christian in tow and rushed into the room.**

"**Rose!" For the first time, I saw a huge bump in the middle of her stomach. "Wow. You're pregnant, I'm pregnant, we're all pregnant!" She giggled slightly and Christian rolled his eyes. "But, one thing, Rose. Who's the father?"**

**I motioned for Dr. Olendzky to give her the papers and her eyes widened in shock as she read the over, twice, three times, four…**

"**Dimitri?" She whispered. "It's not… possible."**

**I groaned. "We've been over this. We get it. It's not possible. But it's true."**

**She ran over to me and threw her arms around me. "I'm so glad to see you awake. You had me scared to death I wouldn't have best friend anymore."**

"**You'll always have me."**

"**I tried healing you but… You wouldn't come around. I was so scared."**

"**There's nothing to be scared of. I'll always be here. Oh, and one more thing," I said.**

"**What?"**

"**I'm engaged."**

"**What?" She asked as if she hadn't heard me.**

"**I'm engaged."**

**She looked to me, to Dimitri and back to me again. Then she threw her arms around the both of us. "I knew it would work out."**

"**You never even knew what was going on until a couple months ago."**

"**I don't care," she mumbled into my arm.**

**And for that moment, everything was perfect again. My life was perfect.**


	12. Chapter 12

_My bump showed visibly from under my FBI Most Wanted t-shirt and I decided to wear a sweatshirt to cover it. There was a knock at my door and before I even had a chance to respond, Dimitri came in with a bag and a bouquet of flowers._

_I snorted. They were all roses._

_He smiled and gave me a quick kiss. "You look wonderful," he said in a very cheesy way._

"_Yeah, in my Dartmouth sweatshirt and my old sweats. Very wonderful," I said with as much sarcasm I could muster._

"_You look beautiful every day," he said._

_I groaned and got closer to him and he grabbed me and our lips met. It was a very un-cheesy kiss, filled with warmth, comfort, and the knowledge that he would never leave me. He put his arm around the small of my back while the other was braided in my hair._

_We broke apart and he looked at me with that longing look in his eyes._

"_We can't," I said._

"_I know," he agreed, quoting ourselves from the night in the cabin but with the roles switched._

_I grabbed my bag and we headed out of the room, meeting Lissa, Christian, and Eddie in the main commons._

"_Are we all ready?" Lissa asked._

_Her bump was much bigger than mine. She was due in five months and I was due in six. Although we both didn't look that different, our moodiness and substitute PMS was really starting to get on our guy's nerves._

_Lissa and I also both had big chunks of diamonds on our ring fingers on our left hands. Christian had proposed as soon as he knew that she was pregnant. It wasn't that much of a surprise though._

_On our way out, we saw Janine talking to Marko. I think she thought he was good Guardian material and wanted him to retake the job. He still had his promise mark._

_When we all got into the seat less van, we all sat on the floor and I leaned my head on Dimitri's shoulder. He stroked my hair and whispered Roza in my ear occasionally._

_Lissa had fallen asleep on the short ride and Eddie had that alert look on his face. Even though he was Adrian's guardian, Adrian had given him up for the week because it wasn't as secure as it used to be._

_In fact, there had been five different strigoi attacks since that one day and now the guardians were always following their moroi everywhere. Court wasn't safe anymore. Nowhere was._

_When we got there, we unloaded all of our stuff onto a little carriage which would bring all of it to our rooms. Then we headed straight to the place-ish thing and walked inside, not caring about the guardians who tried to stop us. We burst straight into the king's common room and he looked up from a book he was reading and a shocked expression came over his face._

"_My lord, Marcus Ivashkov, your government has some serious explaining to do." Another ripped, tall, and pissed-off Russian guy moment._

_Marcus looked extremely confused. "What is it that I can help you with?"_

"_My fiancée, Rosemarie Hathaway, is now pregnant. With another dhampir's child. Mine."_

_And now the king looked upset. Wow, emotional guy. "I'm sorry, uh… Guardian but there is nothing I can do."_

"_Yes, there is. You are going to explain to us why Roza is pregnant!"_

_Marcus sighed. "Alright. It is true. My government have been lying for the past who-knows-how-long. Two dhampirs can conceive a child. It is extremely rare, but we never told the public because we were afraid that all the dhampirs would go off to have a family."_

_I finally noticed the guy. He had short brown hair and he was tall, just not as tall as Dimitri. He wore a black business suit and he even had a little briefcase o his left._

"_You… LIARS! YOU LIFE THIEVING LIARS!" Even now, Dimitri was being a bit harsh._

_Christian and Lissa backed away a little. Eddie stayed where he was but he wore a very alarmed expression. I was tugging on Dimitri's arm to make him stop. He seemed to calm down a little._

"_I'm sorry, your majesty, _but I don't think it's right. Keeping people from having the families they want to have. Maybe some of them don't, that's okay but you shouldn't keep those who do from what they want. _We are people too_."

"I understand that, sir, but without dhampirs, moroi would not survive."

"That isn't true." I hadn't expected to hear his voice throughout this little meeting but I was glad he did. Christian stepped forward, next to Dimitri, and smiled a little bit at Marcus.

Then Christian did something amazing - and stupid. He set the table in front of the king on fire and backed away.

Marcus jumped up and stood on his chair. Everyone in the room could tell he was as scared as hell but nobody jumped up to save him. Not even his guardians.

Christian did a little hand movement and the fire was completely extinguished, not a trace of it ever being burned.

"Oh!" Lissa's voice came from behind us. "I almost forgot. I can revive strigoi."

The king stared at her with mock enthusiasm. "Yes, if that's true, than I am a flying purple elephant."

"Than you must be, sir, for I was once a strigoi." The voice didn't come from Dimitri. I looked around the room and finally I looked behind. Marko, Gaby, Karina, and John were standing at the doorway. Everyone was surprised to see them, especially since everybody else had never met them although our friends had heard of them.

"And may I ask who you are?"

"My name is Marko Acsenti. For two years previous three months ago, I was a strigoi living in a 'cult' until Dimitri and Rosemarie came wandering into our forest. When we confronted them, they took us all out with what they called 'spirit stakes.' They didn't explain much more than that, but it is true, I was a strigoi along with sixteen others."

"How, miss Hathaway?" The king asked.

I motioned for Lissa to step forward. "This here, is my best friend and I am her guardian. Last year, when she didn't specialize, we knew something was wrong. So after further investigation, we figured out she was a spirit user. Spirit magic is the magic of healing. When Dimitri here was turned, I went to seek him out and kill him. A few months later, when I thought of the idea of spirit magic being able to heal him, I went back to the academy to find he was already there. When he was turned back, I thought of another idea. Spirit stakes. Stab the strigoi and they turn back."

The king looked hesitant. "Prove to me that this girl can use 'spirit magic.'"

Lissa looked around the room. When she found what she was looking for, she walked over to a dead plant by one of the windows and touched it for a second before it burst into full bloom.

"Oh, and by the way, don't call her 'this girl.'"

The king was still staring at the plant as if he was thinking it would turn back if he looked away.

"Sir, we also have one more problem to address. Rose and I went to Durango, Colorado three and a half months ago. When in the town, she was captured by… her father. He had created a super breed of vampires called Tahti. They had the build of dhampirs and the magic of moroi. They are extremely dangerous. When I tried to change one with a spirit stake, it turned out that they were born that way and couldn't be change to one or another. I killed Rose's father but most of the others are still alive."

"So… what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you need to send some people down there to kill them! They have been taught to take over the world! And another thing, they can interbreed! They were thought through by a crazy genius!"

"I see what you are saying. I will send some people down to kill all these creatures and I will consider your guardian proposition. You are excused."

We all left the room and Marko and his friends shook everybody's hand before returning to whatever he was doing before.

We all retreated to our own rooms, Dimitri and I in one, Lissa and Christian in another, and Eddie got his own.

When Dimitri opened the door to our room, we stood there for a moment, stunned. It was beautiful. The carpet was a cream color while the walls were white with a pale green lining. Straight to the back there was a big, white bed and to our right was a plasma screen TV with black leather couch in front of it. To the right was a little kitchen area with those refrigerators with sodas that cost, like, six bucks. In the middle of the room was a round glass table, big enough to hold six people. The was also a bathroom to the right, next to the TV.

Dimitri took my hand and led me around the table and to the bed. It was covered in down blankets and the mattress was one of those foam ones with no springs.

He pulled me close to him to the point where his forehead and nose were touching mine. His hand rested lightly around my neck while mine were around his waist.

"My beautiful, beautiful Roza. You don't know how sorry I am."

"For?" I asked breathlessly.

"For not believing you. I just… I know that you used to like Ivashkov. Do not deny it, because it is true. So I thought that maybe, just to see if you liked him anymore, you had sex with him. I'm so, so sorry." The longing was back and I saved him from his agony. I pressed my lips to his, smothering anything else he might have said. His arms around my neck tightened and mine slid up his back. I shivered involuntarily and the kissing became more than just satisfactory.

He broke the kiss and shimmied my shirt off. He stared down at my stomach with the weirdest expression on his face. It wasn't bad weird though. He placed his hand on my bump and at that moment, the baby kicked.

It was the first time the baby had ever done that. I guess it had known that Dimitri was the father and wanted to appeal to him. I really didn't care at the moment though. I placed my hand over his and the baby kicked again.

Tears started falling down Dimitri's face. But they were happy tears, the tears that a father cry when he realizes that he's going to have a baby. I was crying with him them, and I rested my head on his chest. He put his hands around my waist and slid them up to my bra.

"And your sure it won't hurt the baby?"

I nodded into his chest.

He traced the lace of my bra, his hands lingering around the top. I traced his muscles under his shirt and he quickly pulled it off. I looked up to his eyes and he stared back at me. He gently cupped my face and brought his lips down on mine once again. He released his hands from my face but kept kissing me. His hands went to my back and in one motion, unhooked my bra. It fell to the ground and occasionally, another of piece of clothing would fall with it. Eventually, the ground was covered in clothes and we laid back in bed, leaning against each other.

He kissed my hair and whispered, "I love you, Roza."

I lifted his face towards his and responded, "I love you too."

When I woke up the next morning, my hands reached for Dimitri. When I realized he wasn't in the bed, I blinked open my eyes and he was smiling at me from the table, chuckling a bit at my appearance.

I flattened my hair and put on a hotel robe in the bathroom. The silk was smooth against my skin. I washed my face and then walked to the table and sat down on Dimitri's lap. He hugged me and placed his chin on my head.

"What do you want to do for Christmas?" He asked suddenly.

"Dimitri, it's November. Christmas is a month and a half away."

"Yes, but you missed Thanksgiving when you were… in your coma. I think maybe you should meet my family."

"What?" I whispered, stunned.

"I think you should come to Russia with me to celebrate the holidays. I assume you never met my family while you were looking for them?"

I shook my head. "I only sent them a letter after I figured out where you lived."

"Then you should come. It will be fun." I was shaking my head before he finished.

"If I met your family and they didn't like me, the world would probably explode and I would fall into another coma, except this would be one would be everlasting."

"Yes, and then the Eiffel Tower would fall, the empire state building would crumble and St. Vladimir's would be renamed St. Kirova."

I laughed and my lips touched his. "Okay, I'll come."


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, before I say anything, don't kill me. Usually I'm an A student but I've been having trouble in school and needed a tutorer. I have no time to write at all. It's slightly depressing. Right now, I'm working on two other VA stories, one of which I haven't posted yet, so I have a lot to do and this is one of my minor priorities since it's kind of, you know, horrible. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter and 'It's not our fault,' chapter 5+6 will be up as soon as possible. I love you all for sticking with me all this time.  
-Zozerz**

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. They'll love you." Dimitri was trying to sooth me and was failing miserably. Lissa and Christian sat in the seat behind us and Adrian sat in the seat in front of me with Eddie. Unexpectedly, Tasha sat in the seat across from us but had apparently not noticed us. But I saw her keep glancing over her book with the same longing look that Dimitri gave me.

I also had an extreme headache. That was not helping the already nauseating and dizzying plane ride. I was going to meet Dimitri's _family._ Plus Tasha was here. Never a good thing.

I laid on Dimitri's shoulder, trying to ignore the fuzzy black shapes and turbulence in my mind. Mind turbulence. That was pretty good. I'd have to use that sometime.

"What if you're wrong?" I argued. "What if they hate me?"

"They're related to me. They can't hate you." This made me feel slightly better. I closed my eyes and sighed.

Soon, I was fast asleep, drifting…

"Little dhampir," Adrian said in a brusque tone.

I sighed. "What, Adrian?"

"You know I still love you." I blinked. I couldn't see him but I could tell he was being very serious.

Then he was there, grabbing my shoulders from behind. He twisted me around and a tear fell from both his eye and mine. He roughly wiped my tear away from my face and wiped his hand on his shirt. I held my head down, afraid he would try something stupid.

"Rose, my friend, I'm really sorry. It's just… Dimitri doesn't deserve you. He was never there for you, never admitted that he really did care for you, never did love you. Not until recently. I was there the entire time, since the first day I met you. I don't smoke anymore, I don't drink. I feel different now that Dimitri came back. I feel betrayed."

I was crying hysterical, trying to get him off of me.

"Please, just love _me_, Rose. I would take good care of you, I wouldn't have gotten you pregnant. I would have been by your side the entire time. He's just a scum bag who got in our way. _Please_."

I finally picked up the strength to push him off of me. He stumbled back a little but approached me again. I shook my head.

"Adrian, please. Don't try. It's not going to work. My heart belongs to Dimitri."

"You say that, but inside, you don't mean it!"

"How would you know what I mean and don't mean? I mean it you idiot! Go jump off a cliff! It would save the time and effort of getting you off my back! And I'm pregnant with Dimitri's baby, Sherlock!" The colors around us dissolved then, leaving me in darkness. I was awake but I didn't open my eyes. I was pretty sure I had been talking in my sleep and I didn't know what Dimitri had heard.

He was now stroking my hair and playing with my fingers. I wondered how he would react. He could, a) go into an unnecessary rage and destroy everything in sight, b) calmly tell me it was okay but he was uncomfortable, or c) not say anything. I liked the last one best.

I decided to throw in an extra one for his benefit. "I love _Dimitri._ Not you, Adrian," I said softly but forcefully. There was a grunt from the row in front of us but I ignored it, keeping my breathing even.

Dimitri put a hand on my jaw and stroked my cheek with his thumb. His thumb was smooth against my skin and I choked back a sigh. I waited a few more minutes before 'waking up' so he wouldn't get suspicious.

I eventually blinked open my eyes and he stared at me. He wasn't smiling but his face was considering and thoughtful. His lips turned up into a small grin and I kind of smiled back. I saw an eye in the crack between the seats in front of us. As soon as I saw it, it turned away. He was spying on us. Stupid snooper.

I reached up to touch Dimitri's face. It was beautiful and flawless. He put his hand on mine, pressing my fingers into his cheek. He sighed and closed his eyes. I touched his eyelids and he shivered.

He pulled my face up to his with his eyes still closed. My lips touched his and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He kept his hand on my neck and used his other to wrap around my waist. I started to lift his shirt when he broke apart from me.

"Were on a airplane," he reminded me, laughing.

I sighed and leaned against him.

"I'm tired," I mumbled.

"You were just asleep for an hour. How could you still be tired?"

"Jet lag?"

"We're not off the plane yet."

"I don't know, then." We sat there thinking for a moment when an idea came to me. And for some reason, the idea scared me to death. "Dimitri… what if it's hormones?" I looked at him desperately.

"It could be… why do you look like you're about to barf?"

I did feel a little bit sick… Morning sickness? But it was midnight for Pete's sake! I got up and jumped over him, rushing for the bathroom. He got up and followed me, holding my shoulders. This was going to be a long plane ride.

DPOV

I held her hair back as she barfed up her guts into the airplane toilet. They weren't going to be happy when they were cleaning this stuff up. My hand stroked her cheek as I pulled back a strand of loose hair.

"Why did you do this to me?" She asked jokingly.

"I'm sorry, Roza. I didn't know it was possible at the time."

She laughed before throwing up again and somebody knocked on the bathroom door.

"Sir? Are you in there?"

I grunted and kicked open the door. The flight attendant stared at Rose in shock before snapping into action, if you call pouring a glass of ginger ale action. She held the glass up to me and I took it, offering it to Rose. She waved of the glass and threw up again.

"Is it supposed to be this bad?" She asked me.

"I don't know, Roza."

"It looks worse than usual," said the flight attendant. Maybe I could get her some antacid…?" She pause for a moment before I nodded vigorously. She ran down the aisle and came back within in a minute with the cup of ginger ale and two tablet of that dissolving crap for stomach aches.

When I gave them to Rose, she shook her head and I stuffed them in her mouth and she took the ginger ale willingly.

She turned to glare at me and then clutched her stomach. I was just about to ask her if she needed to turn to the toilet when she grabbed my hand and put it on her belly.

A kick came at me and I flinched. But then I realized I had no reason to be scared.

"You've killed over fifteen strigoi, you were turned one yourself, you were turned back, you faced half breeds, you killed my father, and you're afraid of a little kick from a baby? You've got issues, dude."

I closed my eyes and admired the strange sensation on my hand. Roza sighed and placed her hand on top of mine. I wondered for the first time what our baby would be like. It would have brown eyes, obviously and it would be tall when it grew up. But would it have Rose's face, or mine? Would it have light brown hair, or dark brown? So many question.

"What are we going to name it?" I asked her.

She considered for a moment. "Courtney. I want to name her Courtney," she announced.

I stared at her in amazement. "Are you serious?"

"Completely."

"Then, when it is a boy, I want to name it Mason."

She groaned. "It will be a girl," she promised.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "You were out of it for three months, how do you know the doctor didn't tell me?"

"Because you can't tell until six months," she said knowingly.

"Damn it," I growled. "Then how are _you_ so positive?"

"I can just tell." The sparkle in her eyes told me not to argue but it was making me really agitated.

"So… can I do it's middle name if it's a girl?"

"Go 'head."

"How about… Viktoria?"

"Your sister? Perfect. And if it's a boy, its middle name will be… Ibrahim."

"Your father…" Crap, I had forgot to tell her.

"Yes."

"Roza, there is something I have to tell you. In Russia, there is a man named Abe. I think he might be your father."

"What?" She asked, as if she hadn't heard me.

"Your father is a business man in Russia. He deals with legal and illegal business though nobody can prove him guilty. He's quite famous, actually. I'm surprised you haven't found out already."

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because he is not seen often and he's highly dangerous."

"Oh."

What was wrong with me?


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, guys, this is Tasha time! Watch her fired up and in action! Hehe…**

Roza was asleep when we landed. Ivashkov and Eddie were ahead of us, already leaving. I was just about to kiss Rose's cheek to wake her up when there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned my head to see: Tasha.

"Dimka."

"Don't call me that," I said brusquely.

"How have you been lately? Happy with your life? I'm not."

"Well, that's too bad for you."

"No, I'm not happy with _your_ life."

"What?"

"You should have chosen me, not that bitch of a teenager."

I backed up. "Never call my Roza-"

"A bitch," Rose finished for me. She was standing up behind me.

"You think you could beat me in a fight, little one? I think not."

I saw Rose hesitate. It was true, she probably couldn't. Tasha might have been a moroi but she was still strong and could use fire magic actively.

"How about this. You and me fight, and the winner gets Dimka."

"You're on, wannabe."

"Rose!" I looked at her in astonishment. She gave me a stern but reassuring glance.

"Don't worry, I'll win." She looked at Tasha. "Tonight, eight o'clock."

"Outside the bar in Baia."

"Which one?"

Tasha laughed. "Such an inexperienced child. I really don't see how you can like her, my love."

I almost spat when I saw Vasilisa and Christian Ozera come rushing back to us. Christian's eyes widened.

"Aunt Tasha?"

"Oh, dear Christian, won't you come and see the fight tonight? It will be interesting." With that, she walked off the plane and into the airport.

I stared at Christian and he looked back at me in confusion. "What is she talking about? What fight?"

"Tasha and I are going to fight for Dimitri," she explained.

"Isn't it his fault choice though?"

"Not anymore, apparently," I said sullenly.

We left the plane with the princess almost crying. We went through the airport in silence, me thinking about how Tasha was going to hurt the baby when she fought Rose. I had to stop it.

"Roza, you can't do this. With everything going on… you just can't."

"I have to. I can't lose my dignity _or_ you. She's just going to keep coming back after you." She was right about that. Maybe it was the only way…

Never. It was never the only way. "Rose."

She didn't look at me. She had made up her mind. We walked to the parking lot and there, waiting in a black Mercedes was my family.

I ran as fast as I could to the car, leaving the rest of them in the dust. I opened the door and pulled Viktoria out of the car and hugged her so hard, I swear, if I held on any longer she would have choked to death. It was Karolina's turn next, and she basically had to push herself off of me for me to release her. I did this to everyone including Sonya, my mother (Olena) and even my grandmother (Yeva).

Rose was just running up to us as I finished.

"Jeez, Dimitri, you've _so_ been holding out on me," she wheezed. I laughed.

"Rose, this is Viktoria, Karolina, Sonya, Olena, and Yeva." I motioned to each one as I said their name, and they all smiled in turn, except for Yeva who kept her face expressionless.

Olena stepped forward. "Wow, Dimitri, when you said you were bringing a girl, you didn't say that girl was the daughter of the world famous Janine Hathaway."

Rose looked at her. "How do you know my mother?"

"Oh, her and I go way back. We went to school together. I would recognize her kin anywhere."

"Oh."

"And I kind of have an announcement," I said happily.

"Kind of?" Rose said and looked at me.

"Well, I know it's kind of… impossible, but I got Rose pregnant and now we're getting married."

They all stared at me in shock except Rose, Adrian, Eddie, Lissa and Christian who had just caught up.

"Wha-?" Olena looked at me like I was crazy. "What are you talking about?"

"Well… I kind of maybe turned strigoi for, like, a couple months…"

They all stared at me like I was an idiot.

"It's kind of a long story and maybe this isn't really the best time and place for it… we should get home first."

When we were saying who got to go in which cars, nobody in my family really wanted to go with me. Viktoria volunteered since she used to be the closest to me and the rest of our little gang got in the back except Lissa who got in the other car with my family. I let Christian sit in the front with Viktoria and Adrian sat on the end, Eddie sat next to him, Rose sat next to Eddie and me. To tell you the truth, it wasn't a four seat backseat car, but we all fit, sort of. Rose kind of had to sit on my lap a little bit.

Viktoria started up the car and it vibrated to life.

"Okay, now tell me what happened," she insisted.

I motioned for Rose to start.

"Uh, well, in St. Vladimir's, there was a strigoi raid. Before that, Dimitri and I kind of, declared our love to each other-"

Christian snickered and Adrian sighed. Eddie stayed emotionless.

"And when we were walking around that day, I, uh, saw a strigoi behind Dimitri. Soon, it turned into a full fledged strigoi battle. Christian and I sort of destroyed them all… with the help of some others, of course." They gave each other a high-five from across seats. "But, when we realized some were taken, we had to launch a rescue team to the place where the strigoi were staying. Dimitri went in and when he was coming out… well, a strigoi caught him." She took a deep breath and I squeezed her hand. I continued for her.

"Viktoria, have you ever heard of Spirit magic?"

She paused for a moment then nodded.

"Well, while I was a strigoi in Canada, Rose came up with a brilliant idea. See, Vasilisa, the moroi girl who went in the car with everybody else, yeah, well, she's a Spirit user. And so Rose, being her best friend and connected to her for life by a bond, thought of the idea of using spirit to revive strigoi. Meanwhile, I met an old friend of theirs in a restaurant. She calmed me down and brought me back to America to find Rose. So when Rose came back to America to tell Lissa and everybody she ran into Adrian first and while they were at Court, I came in - breaking all the wards - and crashed their party. Rose told Adrian what to do, and he told Vasilisa who then performed spirit on me, turning me back to normal."

"That's kind of the day that he probably got me pregnant," Rose added. "When he turned back, he came to the hotel I was staying at and… we kind of declared our love to each other… again."

We all laughed except Rose who in no way thought any of this was funny. Even Viktoria let out a chuckle.

"Then what?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, come on. I know there's more. Just spit it out."

I sighed. "Alright. Well, after that, Rose and I went to Durango, Colorado and found a… well, a breed of vampires. There was one moroi pretending to be her father. He had created this breed of half-moroi, half-dhampir. He called them Tahti. They captured Rose and when I came to rescue her, well, they had kind of caused her serious brain damage. When Vasilisa had tried to heal her and it didn't work, I thought she was gone for good. When the doctor declared that she was pregnant, I thought she had gotten pregnant with Adrian's baby, over here," I said as I motioned to him and he grimaced. "But, as it happens, it _is_ possible for two dhampirs to have a baby. Surprise, surprise. They've been hiding it."

"Seriously?" Viktoria asked.

"Seriously," everybody in the car except Adrian responded at the same time.

"So when we thought Rose was out for good, we didn't know how she was going to be able to have the baby. We thought of putting it in Vasilisa so she could keep it and take care of it on her own. They were going to put Rose to sleep." I shuddered at the words. Roza squeezed my hand. "But soon after we decided to make that decision, she woke up from her coma and told me that the baby was mine. We then went to Court to confront the new king, Marcus Ivashkov, and he admitted that it was possible for two dhampirs to conceive a child. Now, a month later, we're here," I finished.

"Wow."

"Yeah, definitely."

The rest of the time in the car, Viktoria talked about what was happening with the family. I listened with interest while Roza dozed in and out of sleep on my shoulder. When we got home, I woke her gently and we all walked into the house. It was just as I remembered it. The bookshelf in the corner, the kitchen to the left, even my chair which I would sit in and read for hours on end every night. Roza stared in awe as we walked in and I took her upstairs. I showed her my room which she was almost too tired to look at so I tucked her in under my covers and told her I'd be right back. I kissed her forehead and she unconsciously smiled.

All of Rose's friends were already upstairs and in bed when I went down to see my family. Viktoria was almost done with my story when I walked down. She continued until she was done and all my family stared at me in amazement.

"Seriously?" Karolina asked.

I sighed. "Do we have any bread?" I made my way to the kitchen. I dug up the bread box from under the microwave and took out a piece. I chewed on it while my family came into the room and stared at me. It was going to be a long day.


	15. Chapter 15

It was nearing seven thirty when Rose came stumbling down the stairs. I was hoping that she would either forget about the fight or sleep through it but my hopes were diminished as soon as she came downstairs with her hair tied back and in a t-shirt and sweats. She was wearing the gloves made for cage fighters and I silently questioned myself how she had gotten them.

Karolina had already taken her kids to bed so they wouldn't see Rose when she came down. Viktoria already adored her when I was telling everybody stories about her. Olena still wasn't sure because she thought she might be a bad influence on everybody. I smiled to myself. She probably was.

Rose came down the stairs and stood next to me. She looked pumped up and ready to go. I put my arm around her waist and she relaxed her tense muscles just a little bit.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded and closed her eyes.

"You don't have to worry. I will never leave you even if you lose," I assured her.

"I won't lose."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you too."

We walked out into the night and got into the black Mercedes. We drove slowly around town for a little bit before it was too close to ignore it any longer. We drove to the Dancing Crane.

Tasha was sitting on the wooden bench outside the bar. She smiled evilly when the car pulled into a spot and we both got out. She looked surprised when nobody else got out with us but she hid it well, not caring enough to ask.

Rose walked up to the bench and gave Tasha a death stare. Tasha smiled back.

"Good to see you too, Rose."

Tasha stood up, nose to nose with Roza. Her bump showed visibly under the t-shirt but Tasha didn't seem to notice.

"Just get on with it."

"The rules are that the first person who's knees touch the ground loses. Both of them."

"Sounds good to me."

Rose backed up and Tasha went the other way.

"Go," Tasha whispered.

She launched herself at Rose and it took all my willpower not to step in and beat Tasha up myself. Rose punched Tasha in the side but she came back up with a kick, getting Rose in the chin. Rose grabbed her foot and tried to twist it so Tasha would fall but she just kicked Rose in the chest. Rose released her and stumbled backwards.

The fight went on like this for about five minutes and I was chewing on my lip the entire time. Seeing Rose get injured without doing anything, yeah, that was _real_ pain.

Eventually, Rose got Tasha's hair in her fists and shoved her to the ground, both of Tasha's knees hitting the pavement. Rose was bloody and cut up, but at least she had won. She released Tasha who sprang up and caught Rose's arms. Before I realized what was happening, Rose was screeching in pain and Tasha was laughing. What a psychopath.

I ran up them both and tried to pull Tasha away but she touched my arm and singed some of the hair off, not injuring me but giving me a warning. She would kill both of us if I got any closer. She was just torturing Rose for me now.

I watched in agony as Rose screeched my name and tears dripped down her face. I had to do something, even if it meant getting myself killed. I rammed myself into Tasha, slamming her into a wall and knocking her away from Rose. The next thing I knew, Rose's arms were on fire. I kicked Tasha in the head, rendering her unconscious. The fire stopped and I sighed in relief. Rose was still crying hysterically though and saying my name.

I wouldn't pick her up. I was afraid of hurting her. I lifted her to her feet by her waist but she cried even harder, saying something about how she needed water.

"Dimitri… it hurts… so bad. I need… ice." She kept blubbering on until I got her into the car. I didn't know what to do. I tried turning on the air-conditioning but it just seemed to make it worse. I drove home as quick as I could, trying to half carry her into the house. Viktoria came running down the stairs as soon as she heard the screeches and stared at Rose.

"What the hell happened?"

"Tasha Ozera is a sore loser." I brought Rose up the stairs and into the nearest bathroom. I turned on the bathtub and put Rose in it, clothes and all. I held her there while the cold water ran down her arms. After a few minutes, she started to calm down, trying to keep the crying to a minimum. She tried to lift her arms out of the water but I held them there, not even letting her turn her head. I murmured comforting words in Russian in her ear, making the crying turn into whimpering. When I pulled one arm out of the water to examine it, she started screeching again and I quickly put it back under. Viktoria stayed with us until midnight when I told her she didn't have to stay. She went to bed.

I remembered the princess then and her healing abilities but I wouldn't leave Roza alone until somebody could stay with her. After about three o'clock, I started to get tired. I closed my eyes for a minute and started drifting off when Roza said my name and I snapped back into focus. At six, I asked her if she was tired.

"I am, but I can't go to sleep."

"Why?"

"It hurts."

Right. Silly me. "Hm…" An idea came to me then. I got up and ran to the linen closet and grabbed three towels. I went back to the bathroom and helped Rose lean back. I plugged up the drain and turned off the water. I put one towel behind Rose's head and unwrapped the other two. I wet them both until they were soaking under the faucet and wrapped them around her arms. I kept her arms underwater until they were soaked through. I put them both up on the sides of the tub.

"Comfortable?" I asked.

"Yeah… thanks," she said, hesitating slightly.

I sighed. "What's wrong?"

"This trip didn't exactly go as planned, did it?"

"Not exactly."

"Merry Christmas."

"Have a jolly, happy Christmas," I said jokingly.

When I woke up, it was to the sound of moaning in pain. I snapped up and nearly hit my head on the sink. The towel under my head was wet and dirty and smelled like grease. That was not going to be pleasant.

I looked at Roza. Her towels were dry and I immediately filled the tub with water again and put them back under. She sighed in relief.

"What time is it?"

I looked at my watch to see water under the lens and dripping down my wrist. I sighed. "Half past time to get a new watch. Hold on." I got up and slipped into my mom's room and looked at the cable box. She didn't notice me. I went back to the bathroom. "Eleven thirty."

She looked out of the window and sighed in relief. "In the morning. That's good."

I laughed. "Ugh. I slept five hours."

"You've seen less sleep than that."

"Yes, but in Christmas, you're supposed to sleep in."

"Oh. I always remember getting up at, like, five in the morning to see what Lissa got me. Sometimes, I even got something from my mom."

I chuckled. "We should get you up and changed. We can keep those towels even though you'll look ridiculous."

I helped her out of the tub and we walked up to my room and grabbed a short, cute little red and green dress. It was one strap and looked beautiful on her. It went down to about her knees. I helped her undress out of the wet clothes that she had slept in and into the dress, pulling it over her head while she kept her arms securely away from everything. She winced every time I touched her in a bad spot or she hit something with her arm by accident. They were pink and scarred, but maybe the princess could heal them.

After we struggled with her hair, she decided just to leave it down. I got dressed in a white shirt and sport jacket, just a little less fancy than Rose. She grabbed something from the suitcase that looked like a bag of presents. I smiled. I already had my present to her in my pocket.

We went downstairs to find everybody gathered around the tree that was in the middle of the living room. A fire was going in the fireplace and everybody was chatting. A few people got silent when they saw Rose with the towels and bag, but the rest just kept talking and eating. We sat down next to Vasilisa and Christian who reminded me just a little bit too much of Tasha. I scooted away from him and Rose followed my example.

In the corner of the room, I noticed Adrian and Viktoria holding hands. It was nice to know that Adrian wasn't going to be hitting on Rose anymore and I decided that Viktoria could do worse. At least Adrian wouldn't leave her forever.

Olena came into the room then, smiling hugely.

"Presents!"


	16. Chapter 16

**Oh, Tasha, oh, I really truly don't hate you! (Maybe just a little bit.) But I'm sorry and I know it's been like a million years since I last wrote and that's because I just don't have that great of an incentive anymore! Send me a plot theme continuing off this one and I'll considering making the story longer than a few more chapters! Read and Review!**

"I'll go first!" Lissa volunteered. She got up with a plastic bag and handed all of our friends each a present. (one for Rose and I) and then walked back over to us. She smiled and pulled Rose's arms out of their towels and touched them lightly. My hand that was resting on her back was warmed slightly and I felt Rose visibly relax. She shook out her arms and sighed.

"You could have done that a little earlier!"

"No 'thank you, Lissa'? because without me, you-"

"Alright, alright. Thank you." Rose wrapped her arms around the princess and they hugged for what seemed like and eternity. By the time they were done, most people had already opened presents from others and a few lay in front of us.

We hadn't opened any by the time the last were handed out to us and I counted five in the pile. Rose had already handed ours to everybody out (even though I probably had never seen any of them in my life) and sat down next to me again. I put my arm around her shoulder and I motioned for her to take one. She instantly grabbed the biggest one.

She tore apart the wrapping and then opened the blank box. She pulled out a silk, baby blue blanket with embroidery on one side. In midnight blue stitching, it said 'Dimitri and Roza.'

Rose looked up at Olena and Yeva with an expression that said, 'I would be in tears right now if it weren't for the surrounding people.'

"We didn't know what your name was up until yesterday, so we worked our asses off on it last night," Yeva said.

"Thank you," Rose whispered. I was too stunned to speak. I grabbed the blanket and felt the silk beneath my fingers. I'm sure my face was full of emotion, enough to say my thanks without me having to speak.

Rose put the blanket back in the box and nodded her thanks again and went for another box, more slowly this time. It had a card from Lissa and Christian in it. Rose quickly read it and opened another box, this one a lot smaller. When she pulled it out of all the packing peanuts, I saw a glass frame with little designs burned into the side. I had known about this one. In the middle was a picture of the four of us, shoulder to shoulder, smiling. I was holding Rose's hand and Lissa was holding Christian's.

"How did you do this?" Rose asked in astonishment. "I don't even _remember_ taking this picture."

"That's because we never did. I met this guy a long time ago and I called him up and asked him a favor."

"That's amazing!"

Lissa just smiled and Christian raised up one corner of his lips. Rose put the frame back in the box and dove for another one. In the end, we got a necklace from Adrian, a card full of money from Eddie (he had grinned sheepishly and told us he didn't know what to get us) and a brand new silver stake for each of us from my family again. Both of them had our names on them and a little design. Rose had a rose (obviously) and I had a saying in Russian: Love who you must, and if you do, never let go. Sometimes, you have to love Russia.

By the time we ate and socialized for a few hours, it was already late and Rose was constantly yawning. I grabbed her hand and led her upstairs into my room yet again. As soon as Rose sat down in a chair across the room, there was a knock at the door. I got up and answered it. It was Lissa.

"Hey," she said, and came into the room. She was carrying another box. "This one I didn't think you would want to open in front of everybody else. Enjoy." And she left the room. Rose got up and walked over to the box sitting on the bed. She opened it up curiously and gaped at something I couldn't see. I walked over and looked in the box. I pulled out a piece of fabric, yes, a piece, and gaped at it too. It was the most beautiful piece of lingerie I had ever seen. I _had_ to thank Lissa later.

Rose gently pulled it from my hands and examined it further. She then rushed into the bathroom with it and I bit my tongue. I then lifted my shirt over my head and threw it to the opposite side of the room. I stood next to the door as I waited for my Roza to change.

When she walked out of the bathroom, I let her look around for a moment before grabbed her waist and pulling her to me. I still partly couldn't believe she was mine. This nearly naked girl against my chest with the most beautiful body I had ever seen, was mine, and I loved her more than imaginable. I lifted her chin up to get a better look at her.

"Oh Jesus, Roza, one day, you're going to kill me with your beauty."

"I think you might have that backwards, Comrade."

I pulled her lips to mine with enough force that I had to keep her standing. I released her and moved my lips down to her neck. Her ragged breathing followed the pattern of her pulse which was moving faster than ever before. I kissed her as fast as I could and down to in between her breasts which was just barely covered up by the lacy fabric. I found her heart and it was beating frantically. I kissed the skin that covered it and my hands left her back to slide down to her waist. She moaned and I was excited by her pleasure. I dragged her to the bed and twisted her so she was under me.

She closed her eyes as I pulled the fabric down from her torso and finally from her waist. I ignored the new stiffness in my lower body and raked my eyes over her. She was so beautiful, it was hard to not make love to her right now. But I wanted to tease her.

I trailed my finger down in between her breasts and down her stomach to her waist. My fingertips went down the sides of her area, just barely avoiding it. Her hips bucked and I tried to hold them down with my knees. Her chest gave a great big lurch when my fingers grabbed her and pulled her down into the greatest bliss she had ever experienced. Before we knew it, we were both down for the count, and she lay back against my chest, so completely out of breath. I held her there and tried to massage her legs but it was difficult in this position. We lay there for a while until we both fell asleep, under a spell, this one not so different from the one in my room a long time ago…


	17. Chapter 17

**Heyyy! I'm baaaaaaaaack! Not that I was ever gone… I was writing my other story… what was it? Right. Well now, I think I'll be finishing this one up, continuing with Blissful Sleep (_that_ was the name!) and working on _It's Not Our Fault_, even though I'm _really_ busy with midterms coming up and stuff. Bear with me guys, maybe I'll even write a _Spirit Bound_ for this version and it would involve that Tahti and stuff.**

**P.S. I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Do you remember the part when the dude pretending to be Rose's father died? Well, I totally forgot when writing the chapter on the plane that that had even happened so I made Dimitri tell her that her father was living in Russia even though he had technically just killed him. So, wa la! Fake father. It was the only explanation. Sorry for the major confusion there. An author's job is never easy.**

"…_unidentified woman was found outside a public bar in town, unconscious with what seems to be a concussion."_

Rose sighed beside me and studied her fingers. The silver chain around her neck glimmered from the light from the rising sun outside. It was strange how it bothered me so, that little silver chain and cross at the end.

_Stupid Ivashkov_. _Nobody gives my Roza a necklace except me_. I touched the chain briefly but looked away when she looked up at me. I turned my attention back to the TV, seeing Tasha's face there, haunting me.

"I kind of feel bad, now. I know, I know, she was a total bitch and deserved what she got and I wish she didn't burn me, but at least she'll be put in a hospital where they can figure out she's mental for themselves."

I tried to tune the girl in my arms out but it was hard considering the circumstances. Her breasts were pressed up against my chest and her left leg was underneath my right one, making for a very weird position. Just thinking about this had my arousal in my jeans and my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

She leaned into me, breathing in deeply.

"You didn't put on aftershave today?" She asked evenly, but still surprised.

"I didn't shave," I answered in an identical tone.

She frowned at me. Not in a bad way, just a curious way. She grabbed my chin in her hand and tilted it this way and that, examining it with suspicion.

"You know, I have never seen you with a speck of hair on your face? It's quite amazing." She let go of my chin but her hand did not leave my face. She ran her hand through my stubble and frowned at it slightly sometimes, as if confused.

I closed my eyes and let her play with my face and that was why I didn't see her lips approaching my own. I felt them lightly brush mine and I pulled her closer to me, reveling in the electricity than ran throughout my body. I threaded my hands through her hair as she shook, going deathly still. She turned very cold, very fast and I pulled back to look at her. Her eyes were darting everywhere, her lips parted and labored breathing coming from deep within her throat.

"Roza?" I whispered. "Is everything… okay?"

She shook her head. "Dimitri… the baby…"

"It's coming? But it's not supposed to come for another two months!"

"Dimitri… get me to the hospital…" Her face was red and her eyes were unfocused.

"Roza, are you sure? Maybe it's just-"

"God dammit, Dimitri! If I'm not in that car within the next ten second headed in the direction of the hospital, I swear to you that your head will be seen floating down the Nile river- without a body!"

Her anger scared me and that's all it took to lift her up and run to the car, strap her in securely and go around to the other side and start driving.

Her hand kept shaking, moving and twitching constantly as if she didn't know what to do with it. Eventually, she started clawing at the dashboard so to prevent complete deterioration of the expensive item, I grabbed onto her hand and squeezed it every couple of seconds.

"Dimitri… holy shit!" She let out an earsplitting scream and the car swerved for a moment before I managed to straighten it out. I sped up times ten and drove like a madman down the highway.

My fears came true as I heard a police siren start up behind us. I looked at Rose but she seemed too caught up with the pain to notice. I slowed down and quickly turned to the side of the road.

The police officer walked painstakingly slow to our car in which time Rose had clawed some skin off of the palm of my hand. I could feel her cold sweat lacing my fingertips mingled with some of my own.

When the officer finally tapped on my window to roll it down, Rose screamed again. He flinched back. I rolled down the window but leaned over to Rose to try and calm her down.

"Sir, is there a problem?" I asked the officer through gritted teeth.

"What's going on here sir?"

"My fiancé is going into labor. Can I go now?"

"Dimitri," she said, her breathing become slower but hitched.

"Roza? What… are you… what is it?"

I saw the officer's eyes widen in my peripheral vision.

"It hurts," she moaned.

I shot a glare at the man.

He waved me on. "Go ahead. The hospital is-"

"Thanks," I said and drove off.

When we finally pulled into the parking lot, I ran over to the passenger's side and opened her door, pulling her out and into my arms, shutting the door with my foot.

I carried her to the door where she whimpered. A nurse called out to another who came with a wheelchair which I put her in. She grabbed onto my hand and dug her nails in again, ripping off more skin.

Realization set on me as we entered the small delivery room. I was having a child. My very own small, helpless, little child. A searing cold set in on me. I blanked out for the next hour, still grasping her hand and ignoring the screaming.

When I finally came back to the real world, the nurse was screaming procedures at Rose while she whimpered repeatedly.

"Dimitri… Oh, god, Dimitri. I'm so tired."

"You can do it, Roza. I know you can. Just keep pushing," I commanded. I was so scared, scared out of my mind.

Another hour later, a baby was delivered. My eyes widened as the nurse held out the baby to me. She announced it was a girl and that she was completely healthy.

I fainted.

I had never fainted before in my life.


	18. Authors Note: I'm Sorry

I love you guys, so much, and that is why I am extremely sorry. Life has just started kicking my ass lately. Finals, parents, moving, everything. But the exciting news? I finished Spirit Bound. The depressing news? I'm depressed because I finished Spirit Bound. Ironic, isn't it?

But, basically, the story itself was extremely depressing as well. With Dimitri and Adrian and arresting Rose for murdering Tatiana…

Whoops.

But, uh, yeah. It was great. Despite my depression, I loved it with all my heart. My favorite is still Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise follows a close second, then the first one, then Spirit Bound, then Frostbite. What can I say? They had like, two make out scenes in FB and they were both short and not really descriptive at all. But you know…

So, as I waist time jabbering away, it is 12:25 am, I finished Spirit Bound about a half an hour ago, which would be on May 19th, 11:55 pm. Hm.

One thing I have to address is the stories. They will be continued. Hopefully. But, right now, I started a freelance writing class and we were instructed to write something… and it was cool. So I made it into a story and it's now on FanFiction. It's on my profile, it's called _The Wolf Thief_. It's basically about this chic who is kidnapped from her house and forced to work for an agency that mutates wolves. I encourage you to read it, I own everything, yadda yadda yadda.

Okay, so my request of you right this very minute is to leave me a review: anything. Tell me how your feeling right now. Tell me that you're angry at me for not updating, or that your happy to hear I'm not dead. Anything.

Thanks so much for sticking with me all this time. I owe you guys. A lot.

Your beloved FanFiction writer, Zoë.

P.S. I LOVE YOU.


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